


Snow Mystery What Happens

by Jekkah



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 18:58:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/995391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jekkah/pseuds/Jekkah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garcia and Rossi plan a weekend for the BAU team that doesn't quite go as planned when couples get snowed in hunting cabins. Morgan/Garcia, Rossi/Prentiss, JJ/Hotch, Reid/Strauss</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mysterious Rendezvous

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing but the dvds.
> 
> Author's note: This is my first time venturing into so many pairings so please bear with me! I hope you enjoy the story! Special thanks to BonesBird for the title and Felena1971 for the first chapter title!
> 
> I'd like to thank all of the wonderful author's and readers on Facebook for putting different pairings in my head and leading me to this!

"You know there's a storm coming," Hotch said, walking into the kitchen where Reid, Prentiss, and JJ had gathered for a mid-afternoon coffee break. His face was stoic as always, but there was a hint of pleading in his voice.

Reid nodded. "It could dump as much as twenty inches of snow on us or it could dump just a coating. It all depends on the track of the storm."

"If you think that's going to get you out of going this weekend, you're crazy," Prentiss told Hotch, who frowned. "Garcia's been planning this for weeks. She's not going to let us get out of it for anything. She even arranged it so that we can't get called away on a case."

"Did it have to be a murder mystery weekend of all things?" JJ sighed, thinking that this was the last thing she wanted to do on her first kid-free weekend in months. "I mean, don't we get enough of that at work? Couldn't we have gone somewhere warm and just drank on the beach all weekend?"

Prentiss and Hotch chuckled while Reid replied, "I'm looking forward to it. Did you know-"

JJ placed her hand on his arm. "Not today, Spence."

"Hello, my lovelies!" Garcia called out, entering the kitchen with a neon pink mug. She began to fix herself some tea. "Is everyone excited about the trip this afternoon?" She ignored the groans she received.

"What I want to know," Prentiss told her, stopping Garcia from leaving the kitchen, "is how you talked Rossi into renting this place out for the weekend? Did you find some blackmail photos of him somewhere?"

Garcia floundered, attempting to come up with a satisfactory answer for them. She was quiet so long that they began to look at her in confusion, wondering if Prentiss had been correct.

"She didn't blackmail me with anything," Rossi commented, walking up behind Garcia, causing her to jump a little. "Penelope, here, thought it would be a nice idea for the team to get away together-"

"As opposed to all the time away together we spend with each other?" Hotch interjected.

Rossi ignored him as he continued. "-without a case-"

"So, you make up a case for the weekend," JJ muttered with a slight undertone of bitterness.

"-to just kick back and relax and be with each other." Rossi put his arm around Garcia's shoulders and kissed her temple. "I think she came up with a brilliant idea. You guys are going to have a blast. Trust me."

Garcia wrinkled her nose and grinned. "The cars pull out of here promptly at five so make sure you get all your work done before then. You are not taking any paperwork with you. That includes you, Agent Hotchner."

Hotch groaned, but nodded his surrender. He had already lost that argument weeks ago.

"That's the spirit!" Garcia said, gleefully. She turned and left, followed closely by Rossi.

"You've got to be quicker on your feet than that, Garcia," Rossi whispered to her, "if you expect to pull this off."

Garcia sighed. "I know, sir. I just didn't expect for them to bring up blackmail."

Rossi chuckled. "It wasn't exactly blackmail. I freely agreed to do this weekend, too. And please don't call me 'sir' when we're plotting."

"You only agreed to do this because Emily won't talk to you anymore," Garcia countered. "Not unless other people are there or if it's about a case."

"Hopefully, that will all change after this weekend. Just stick with me until we split everyone up," Rossi ordered, softly.

Garcia nodded before heading off to her office and Rossi off to his. JJ watched him curiously as he walked into his office and closed the door. She glanced around the bullpen to see Reid and Prentiss hard at work on their files. Quietly, she walked to Hotch's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Hotch called out. He smiled when he saw JJ standing there. "What's going on?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." She shut the door before wandering over to one of the chairs in front of his desk. She ran her palms nervously over her denim-covered thighs. "Do you know what Rossi and Garcia are up to?"

Hotch shook his head. "Not a clue. They're not really being subtle about that, are they?"

"Rossi might've been able to pull it off by himself, but Garcia is terrible with secrets. How did he get you to go along on this trip anyway?" she asked.

"He threatened to tell Sean about Beth," he mumbled.

JJ cocked her head to the side. "You still haven't told anyone that you've broken up?"

Hotch shook his head. "And, please don't say anything. I can't take anymore of Dave's 'help.'"

"I promise," she swore as she rose from the chair. "See you in the lobby at five."

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"It's really starting to come down out there," Prentiss commented, watching the snow fall from the backseat of the car driven by Rossi.

"We're not turning around," Garcia told her. She was sitting in the back, too, while Morgan slept lightly in the front.

Rossi added, "We're nearly at the cabin. It wouldn't make sense to turn around."

"I didn't say anything about turning around," Prentiss grumbled. "I was just making conversation."

They fell into an uneasy silence for a few minutes before Garcia turned back to Prentiss. "What's up with Hotch and JJ? Do you know they've been spending almost every Saturday together?"

"Yeah, with their kids. They're play dates. Hotch is trying to help JJ and Henry adjust to life without Will," she answered, nonchalant.

"What did happen with that?" Morgan asked, surprising them all by being awake.

Prentiss and Garcia glanced at each other before looking forward. Garcia sighed. "Same old story. He couldn't handle her job, wanted her to find something where she wasn't gone as much. She told him no and he left. They're better off as friends."

"He moved back to New Orleans," Prentiss picked up. "He comes up to see Henry once a month. JJ said he's even been seeing a woman. I guess they're getting pretty serious."

"Are you sure these play dates are just that?" Morgan questioned, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Rossi chuckled. "Yeah. Hotch is still dating Beth." He shot a quick glance in the rear-view mirror at Garcia. "What about you? When are you going to spill the beans about what happened with you and Lynch?"

"Never," Garcia replied, a hint of anger in her voice. Her scowl turned into a smile and her eyes grew wide. She bounced in her seat. "Ooh, is that it?"

"That's it," Rossi affirmed, pulling in front of a large cabin. There was a large wraparound porch and several of the lights were on the first floor, just as he had instructed the caretaker to do. Rossi and Morgan began to pull bags from the back of the truck as the other truck carrying Hotch, JJ, and Reid pulled up behind them.

"Oh, wow," JJ breathed out, walking into the cabin.

Prentiss nodded. "This is amazing."

"No need to sound so surprised," Rossi said in mock hurt. "I know my way around real estate." He grabbed his bag from the pile that had accumulated in the living room. "Sadly, there's only four bedrooms so almost everyone has to double up."

"It's like Alaska all over again," Reid groaned.

Prentiss laid her hand on his arm. "I'll stay with you, Reid."

He grinned widely before grabbing his own bag and heading upstairs.

"I guess that leaves me and Penelope and Hotch and Morgan," JJ said, waving her hands. "I'm assuming our host gets his own room."

"You assume correctly," Rossi replied, heading upstairs.

They all met back downstairs about twenty minutes later. Garcia stood in front of the fireplace, holding eight manilla envelopes in her hand. She whistled loudly to get them to stop talking. "Okay, here's the deal. I've set this game up a little differently. We're going to partner up in the search for clues."

"But we're one short," JJ protested.

"The caretaker has offered to come back and partner with our odd man out. There are clues and character descriptions in each of these envelopes as well as a dvd of all the characters' backgrounds and more specific rules of the game. We are going to split up with our partners this evening to study and create a game plan so that we can play the game tomorrow. The trick is that one of us has a murderer card in their packet and you have to keep it quiet from even your partner."

Rossi stepped forward next to her. "There are several hunting cabins on the grounds here. Nice hunting cabins," he added, quickly when he saw Prentiss open her mouth. "They're equipped with heat and electricity and even a tiny kitchen and television. You are going to go to your assigned hunting cabin with your partner for the next few hours to study the case without distractions. Any questions?"

JJ raised her hand. "Can't we skip the case and just drink here instead? It's so nice and warm in here."

"No!" Garcia told her, exasperated, causing JJ to roll her eyes. "Okay, in the corner of the envelopes is a number from one to four. Whoever has the same number as you is your partner." She turned to Rossi, giving him a little wink before passing out the seemingly random assignments.

"I got three," Morgan announced to the room.

Garcia squealed. "Me, too! Looks like we're partners."

Morgan put his arm around her. "We're totally going to rock this thing, baby girl."

"I got four," JJ said, looking around at all of them. Expecting that she would be paired with the caretaker, she was surprised when Hotch said, "Mine, too." They smiled awkwardly at each other.

"My number is two," Reid spoke up. He shrugged when no one spoke up, knowing that meant he was partnered with the caretaker.

Rossi looked at Prentiss who was trying desperately to hide her annoyance from the others. "Guess that leaves you and me, Emily."

Garcia clapped. "That reminds of another rule. Absolutely, positively no last names. Well, except Hotch. It's just too weird to call him Aaron. Also, phones don't work up here so even if I let you have them on, you couldn't do anything with them."

"There is a phone in the kitchen for emergencies," Rossi assured them when both JJ and Hotch began to protest. "All of the cabins have been equipped with food for dinner." He looked down at his watch. "Let's meet back here at 10:30."

Grumbling, they began to make their way to the hall to put on coats. A knock on the door startled them all.

"Maybe the caretaker came early," Rossi joked as he went open the door. He groaned when he saw the person standing on the other side of the door. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Erin Strauss frowned as she walked into the cabin. "I see your manners are perfect as always, David." She turned to Hotch. "Agent Hotchner, I've been trying to reach since you left the building, but it seems that your phone is off."

Hotch tossed an irritated look in Garcia's direction. "Sorry, ma'am. One of the rules of the weekend states that all cell phones must be off. Is there some sort of emergency?"

"Emergency? Not exactly." She held up a stack of papers. "I need you to sign off on these today. They're due Monday morning and as you know, I'm leaving for the Bahamas Sunday evening."

"I'll get that taken care of right now." Hotch took the papers and the pen she offered and returned to the living room.

Strauss observed the tense looks on the faces of the BAU team. She was torn between amusement and annoyance. She hadn't planned on ruining their weekend with her presence, but she needed to get those papers turned in. She huffed after a few minutes of silence. "Don't worry. I'll be gone shortly."

"I'm not so sure about that, Erin," Rossi told her from the open doorway. He was staring at the road. "You can't even see the tracks of your car."

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, storming over to the door. She peered out into the snow to see her tires already beginning to be covered.

Rossi shrugged. "You can try to make it off the mountain, but there's a good chance that you'll get stuck. Why don't you stay here for the night? You can be Reid's partner."

Strauss looked horror-stricken. "I can't stay here for the night."

"Of course, you can," Rossi replied, calmly. "The roads will probably be plowed tomorrow. You can leave bright and early."

"He's right, ma'am," Morgan agreed, after assessing the roads himself. "It would be safer if you waited."

Strauss sighed. "Fine. I'll stay, but I'm leaving first thing in the morning."

Rossi grinned as he held out a hand to Garcia. "Penelope, that last envelope, if you please."

"S-sure." She gave him the last envelope while shooting apologetic looks to a nearly petrified Reid.

"Here you go," Hotch said, returning the paperwork to Strauss. He grimaced at the uncomfortable faces on his team.

"Great news, Hotch," Rossi said, giddy. "Erin, here, has agreed to stay the evening. She's going to help Spencer prepare for the murder tomorrow."

Hotch shot a questioning look at JJ, but she just shook her head, letting him know she'd explain later.

Rossi smirked at them all. "Let the games begin."


	2. Strange and Not So Strange Bedfellows

"So, Agent Reid," Strauss said as they removed their coats once they got inside their hunting cabins, "how exactly did you all decide to do a Murder Mystery Weekend of all things?"

Reid took Strauss' coat to hang it next to his. "Garcia. You don't say no to her when she gets an idea in her head."

"No, I don't suppose you do," Strauss replied, mysteriously. She glanced around the tiny cabin. There was a twin bed in one corner near a small room that she assumed was a bedroom. In another corner sat an older television and a recliner. A third corner contained a stove, refrigerator, and sink, while the fourth had a small table with two chairs. The cabin was clean and clearly well maintained. Still, Strauss was glad they only had to spend a few hours in it. "Well, Agent Reid, what do you say we sit down and try to solve this case."

"Yes, ma'am. It's just..."

Strauss sighed as Reid's voice trailed off. "It's just what, Agent?"

Reid shifted, nervously. "It's just that I've already solved the case."

"How?" she asked, incredulously, dropping all formalities in her surprise. "I never even saw you look at the papers."

"Well, I could tell you that I noticed a slight dilation in Garcia's eyes as she handed the culprit his or her packet or that her breathing hitched slightly." Reid grinned as he saw Strauss following every word. "I could tell you that, but I would be lying. I saw a Post-It note on the back of the killer's packet that Garcia apparently forgot to remove."

Strauss grinned in spite of herself. "Very observant, Agent Reid."

Reid beamed. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Please," she held up her hands, "call me 'Erin.' We're not in a professional setting here."

"Yes, ma-, um, Erin. Call me 'Spencer.'"

Strauss kicked off her shoes. "So, Spencer, it appears that we have a few hours to kill. What do you suppose we do?"

Reid felt heat creep up his neck at the brief image of a naked Strauss straddling him flitted through his mind. "There's, uh, suppose to be food. We could cook some dinner if you haven't eaten yet."

"I haven't." She peered at him, trying to figure out where his sudden uncomfortableness had arisen from. "Can you cook?"

"I've been cooking for myself for most of my life," Reid admitted, walking towards the refrigerator. "And we've all been taking lessons from Rossi lately. I can't promise that it'll be gourmet, but it'll be edible."

Strauss smiled sadly as she made her way to the table. "I'm sure that whatever you make will be much better than the take-out I've been eating lately."

Reid looked at her sharply, torn between asking her why she'd been eating a lot of take-out and minding his own business. He settled for letting the comment drop with a sympathetic grin. He stuck his head into the fridge to find the ingredients for a spaghetti dinner complete with Rossi's special sauce.

"This should be easy," Reid assured her. "It looks like I just have to cook the pasta and heat up the sauce. Would you like some water or milk?" He glanced in the tiny cupboard over the sink. "It looks like there's tea and coffee, too."

"Water would be fine." Strauss took a sip of the bottled water that he handed her. She watched him quietly as he began to fix the meal. "You said that you've been cooking for most of your life. Why is that?"

Reid hesitated. "Well, you know about my mom, right?"

Strauss nodded, her eyes taking on a saddened tint. "I know she suffers from schizophrenia."

"It was just easier to learn to cook for myself than figure out each day whether or not she was going to cook or whether she'd be lost in one of her episodes." Reid kept his focus on the pasta as he talked.

"That must have been hard to deal with as a kid," she commented. "Was your dad not around much?"

Reid shook his head, wanting to find any topic to switch the conversation to, but finding his brilliant mind failing him. "He, uh, left when I was young. I didn't hear from him until a few years ago. We don't talk"

Strauss stood suddenly. She walked over to him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. This must be difficult for you to talk about. I didn't mean to bring up sad memories."

"It's-it's fine," Reid stuttered, overwhelmed by her concern. "It was a long time ago."

"Can I... ask you an uncomfortable question?" She bit her bottom lip when Reid nodded slowly. "Do you blame your mother for his leaving?"

Reid swung his head to her. "Why are asking that?"

Strauss took a step back, fiddling nervously with her hands. "Because my husband's left me and I'm pretty sure that my kids blame me."

"So, baby girl," Morgan said as they entered their own cabin. He removed her coat before removing his own and hanging them on the hooks, "are you going to tell me the real reason for this weekend?"

Garcia swallowed nervously. "I don't know what you mean. I just thought it would be nice for all of us to get together for the weekend, away from all the ickiness we see."

Morgan chuckled, taking her hands between his and rubbing them to warm them up. "That would be a lot more convincing if you had chosen something other than a murder mystery as our weekend activity."

"Why else would I plan this?" She frowned.

"Well, I noticed that you paired everyone off, even though we have a small group and could easily play the game by ourselves. I also know that Rossi had more to do with the planning than either of you are letting on. I'm pretty sure that the couples weren't randomly assigned." He smiled smugly.

Garcia took a shaky breath. "Assuming all that's true, why do you think we did all this?"

"That's easy." He wagged a finger at Garcia. "You two are trying to set Hotch and JJ up."

"You guessed it," Garcia agreed, pulling her hands away from his. She turned away from him, rolling her eyes. Hotch and JJ? Really? Apparently, he had forgotten that Hotch was dating Beth. "So, do you want to eat or get started on the mystery?"

Morgan rubbed his neck, noticing her slightly tense. He was unsure of the cause. "I'll make us something."

Garcia sat down at the table, watching as Morgan prepared the pasta. She felt her confidence fade as she studied his rugged face. She knew she loved him, had loved him for a long time, but she never quite felt as though she deserved him. She wasn't the girl that got the handsome prince. No, she was the lady-in-waiting, the quirky best friend in the romantic comedy.

"Everything okay over there?" Morgan asked her, drawing her from her thoughts.

"Just lost in thought," she told him, shooting him a small smile.

Morgan stopped stirring. "You're not thinking about Lynch, are you?"

Garcia made a face. "No. I don't think about him at all unless someone brings him up."

"Well, then, I guess we'll have to make sure that no one brings him up." He chuckled, turning back to the food. "Unless you want to tell me what really happened."

"I told you. We grew apart. There's nothing to tell." She challenged him to disagree with her. He only shook his head. "What about you? How's your love life going?"

Morgan laughed. "What love life? All of my free time has been spent with you lately."

Garcia felt her hopes sink even further. "Yeah, I guess that wouldn't exactly be conducive to finding the love of your life."

"Okay, seriously, what is going on with you? When we first got here, you were all bubbly. Now, you're obviously sad. Does this have anything to do with Lynch?"

"No. No." She paused when she realized he was waiting for an explanation. "I mean, yes. Um, it's just been hard to go from being in a long term relationship to not being in one."

Morgan scooped spaghetti noodles onto the plates. "Are you ready to get out there again?"

Garcia shrugged. She muttered, "I thought I was."

"You know," he started as he joined her at the table, "I make an excellent wing man. We could start hitting the clubs next weekend. You might not find your true love, but you'll get out there and have some fun."

"Sounds great." She tried to muster up some enthusiasm, but she couldn't. Desperate to change the subject, she grabbed his envelope from the counter and brought it to the table with hers. "Let's study the case. We have to learn all the characters before tomorrow."

"You mean, you don't know who the killer is already?" he teased.

Garcia shook her head without looking up. "I had my friend, Gregoria, design the game so that I wouldn't know who the killer was. I even had her seal them for me."

Morgan nodded, a bit disappointed that she didn't have a comeback to his baiting. He took the opportunity to study her while she was distracted with the game. He had attributed her falling mood to her break-up with Lynch, but his gut nagged at him that there was more to it. After all, she had seemingly bounced back from the relationship after spending the first weekend at his place on the couch watching movies and eating ice cream, pizza, and many other foods that his stomach had yet to work off.

They had been spending a lot of time together in the two months since her and Lynch had gone their separate ways. He didn't realize just how much he loved it until he asked her if she was ready to start dating again. The moment the words left his lips, he felt a sharp pain in his chest over the thought of Garcia dating again. He offered to be her "wing man" so that he could weed out any man that wasn't good enough for his girl. The problem was, he couldn't imagine any man being good enough.

"Derek. Derek," Garcia called. "Agent Morgan!"

"Huh?" Morgan asked, jerking his head in her direction. "Sorry, guess I was daydreaming. What is it?"

Garcia bit her bottom lip before answering. "I just asked which of the characters you wanted to study first."

"Oh, um, we should probably start with ourselves first. I mean, I'm not even sure what my name is." He flashed her a grin that had her snickering. Morgan felt a warmth creep across his abdomen as he enjoyed her mirth. "How about we finish dinner, crack open a bottle of wine that I see Rossi left in the fridge, and get to studying?"

"Sounds good."


	3. Friends and Lovers

"How did we get roped into this?" JJ sighed, flopping down on the recliner in the cabin assigned to her and Hotch.

"I thought we established that I was blackmailed and you were guilted," he replied flippantly as he rummaged through the kitchen.

JJ sighed again, louder this time. "Oh. Right." She raised her head to look at him. "Is there wine out there?"

Hotch chuckled at her preoccupation with alcohol this weekend. "You're in luck. There are two bottles in the fridge."

"Ooh!" JJ exclaimed. She jumped off the chair and practically ran over to the fridge. She poured them each a glass before sitting on the counter. She took a long sip of the wine, smacking her lips when she was finished. "This is delicious."

Hotch laughed at her antics as he went about cooking the meal. "You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself."

She frowned. "It's my first Henry free weekend in forever. I just wanted to go out and get crazy like I used to." JJ knitted her eyebrows when she noticed the look on Hotch's face. "What's with the smirk?"

"You really want to know?" He shrugged when she nodded. He took a huge gulp of his wine. "I was just thinking about the night that we were all at the bar after the Super Bowl a few years ago. You were wearing this great red shirt that showed just a little bit of skin, just enough to be tantalizing."

JJ's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe he remembered that. And if she wasn't imagining it, he was flirting with her right now. "Um, yeah. I actually got more numbers that night than Morgan did, if you can believe it."

"I can."

"Is there anything I can help with?" she asked after a few minutes of silence to break the tension. JJ was starting to feel bad about letting him do all the work.

"I've got everything under control. I can't give you a wild kid-free weekend, but I can cook you dinner." Hotch glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. JJ chugged down the rest of her wine and refilled the glass. "You might want to slow down on that. We still have a case to solve."

JJ snorted. "Hotch, I already know you're the killer."

Hotch stopped stirring the sauce and turned to her. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I know your looks," she countered. "As soon as you read your paper, your eyes grew wide and your face tensed for just a second. If you had been any other character, you wouldn't have reacted at all."

"I'm that predictable?" His voice held only curiosity.

JJ nodded. "You are to me. I've spent years studying you and your reactions so I knew exactly when to step in and when to walk away; how to approach you. There's not much you could do to surprise me. In fact, I bet that I could predict your behavior better than-"

Hotch cut her off suddenly by place a chaste kiss on her lips. He turned immediately back to the stove. "Bet you didn't see that one coming." His heart thumped faster when she didn't respond. "JJ?"

"Huh?" she responded, her hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I only-"

JJ grabbed his shirt to pull him towards her. She kissed his lips. "There. Now, we're even. Nothing to be uncomfortable about."

Hotch ran his hand through his hair. "Nothing at all."

"So, how's that dinner coming?" JJ hopped off the counter and walked to the table, putting distance between her and Hotch. She was overwhelmed by the jolt of electricity that she felt when their lips met. She had always found him attractive, but in an almost hero-like, distant way. Now, her mind kept flitting to other possibilities. She wondered what it was like to have those lips on her neck, on her breasts, making their way down her stomach.

"JJ!"

"What?" she nearly shouted as Hotch's voice finally penetrated her thoughts.

He tilted his head. He had been calling her for awhile. "I was just wondering if you'd grab the salad from the fridge. It's pre-made so you only have to put it into bowls. Dinner's almost ready."

JJ finished her second glass before grabbing the salad. She went to pour herself a third glass, but thought better of it, and took a bottle of water from the fridge. She smiled as Hotch brought the pasta to the table. "It looks delicious."

"Thank you." He sat down across from her, laying a napkin across his lap. "Jack is in a pasta phase right now so I can make a mean spaghetti."

"A pasta phase sounds wonderful," JJ commented, her body relaxing. "Henry is all about hot dogs right now. He even wants them for breakfast. It's a fight every day, but I can't let him go around eating nothing but hot dogs. I bet that's all my mother feeds him this weekend."

Hotch felt a warmth spread across his chest as he watched JJ talk about her son. "I bet we could use Jack to get Henry to stop eating hot dogs. We just have to have Jack tell him that he doesn't like hot dogs."

JJ laughed. "That just might work. Henry idolizes Jack." Her face grew serious as she placed her hand over his. "I don't know what we'd have done these last few months without you and Jack. You've kept Henry's spirits up and me sane. I can't thank you enough."

He interlinked their fingers, gently stroking her thumb with his. "You don't have to thank me. You did the same thing for us after Haley. Us single parents have to stick together."

"Yes, we do," she agreed, sliding her hand from his so that she could eat. She took a bite of the pasta. "This is amazing!"

"It's Dave's special sauce. He's been trying to teach it to me with little success. I think he's going to give up and try it with Jack." Hotch shook his head. "Dave seems to think that the only way I'll keep Beth is if I learn to cook."

At the mention of Beth's name, JJ stiffened. She was unsure why she felt a burst of jealousy towards the woman that he was no longer with, but it was gnawing at her insides. She took a deep breath, needing to know the answers to questions she had previously disregarded. "Why did you two break up anyway?"

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Rossi studied Prentiss as he took a bit of his spaghetti. She was staring pointedly at her half-eaten plate. Prentiss had barely said three words to him since they split off from the rest of the group to enter their cabin. Initially, he was prepared to wait her out, but the longer they went in silence, the more frustrated he became. He knew that if he didn't get her to talk to him now while they were alone that he wouldn't ever get her to talk to him at all.

"Really?" Rossi demanded, throwing his fork down as Prentiss sighed miserably once again.

"What?" Prentiss asked, looking up with confusion all over her face.

Rossi flung his hands in her direction. "You! You've been ignoring me since we entered the cabin. No, strike that. You've been ignoring be for months and I've had enough!"

Prentiss glared at him. "You've had enough? You?"

"You're just sitting there like we mean nothing to each other! I thought we were friends, but ever since that night, you've turned your back on me, on our friendship."

"I wanted to still be your friend. You were the one that wouldn't let it go. You kept pushing me to be more," Prentiss shot back.

Rossi slammed both of his hands on the table, causing them both to jump. "Yes, I want more! Ever since we made love, you're all I think about."

"We didn't make love, Dave," she replied, quietly. "It was just sex." Her admission froze him and she felt bile creeping up her throat, even as she pressed on. "I was lonely and sad. I came back from the dead and things just weren't the same. Morgan was pissed at me. The accusations in Garcia's eyes were overwhelming. And Reid... he couldn't even look at me."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Confusion ran throughout Rossi's body.

"The only two people that were treating me normal were JJ and Hotch, who were so caught up in their own guilt over lying to the team that I tried my best to keep them from my issues," Prentiss took a deep breath, "and you."

Again, he stilled. "So, if Morgan had been treating you as if you had never left..."

Prentiss looked down at her plate. "I very well could have shown up at his place that night."

"Bullshit!" Rossi shouted. He rose from the table. "That's why you've told everybody about what happened to you in Italy; why you showed up to everybody's house after the compound to hang out and watch movies for three days. That's why they know all about your mother, both good and bad. That's why everybody else is at the bar when you call me up after a rough day needing a stiff drink and an ear to bend."

"I'm sorry." She stood also. "I'm sorry that you took my friendship as something else. Yes, I told you those things, but it was only because I thought you would understand better than the others. If I had thought at any point that you would take those confessions as anything other than friendship, I never would have said anything."

Rossi grabbed her arm, pulling her flush against him. She unconsciously molded herself around him. Rossi leaned down so that his lips were millimeters away from her ear. "And telling me that you love me? Were those the words of a simple friend?"

Prentiss' eyes grew wide. She remembered whispering that to him, but thought he was asleep. She felt her heart drop to her stomach as her skin paled. She took a heaving breath and pushed off from him. "I don't know what you think you heard, but I don't need this. I don't need you."

"Emily, wait," Rossi pleaded as she threw on her coat.

"What?" She paused at the door, refusing to turn and face him.

"I didn't-" He took a step towards her. "I didn't bring you here to fight with you. I just wanted to talk to you."

Prentiss felt anger ripple through her at confirmation that he had done this just to get her alone. "So you admit that you set this up? What were you expecting? Another roll in the hay?"

Rossi clenched his fists. "Why are you doing this? Why are you deliberately misunderstanding my intentions?" He took another step forward. "Yes, I helped Garcia set this up. No, she doesn't know why," he explained when she opened her mouth. "Yes, I rigged it so that you and I would be partners, but no, I didn't do it so that I could 'roll in the hay' with you again. I did it so that we could talk. I want to be... more than friends, but if you don't, then I want to find a way to get our friendship back on track."

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe this isn't what I want? Maybe I'm happy with just having a work relationship and nothing more? Or can't your ego take that hit?" she spat back at him.

"Dammit, Emily!"

"I'm done," Prentiss cut him off. "I'm done being your partner. I'm done being your friend. I'm going back to the house now. I want you to leave me alone."

Prentiss opened the door, only to be pushed back by a gust of wind and heavy snow. She fought her way to look outside. She could no longer see the lights from the house and the snow was already over her ankles.

She spun around, fire in her eyes. "We're stuck."


	4. Confessions Are Good for the Soul

"No offense to you friend, Gregoria," Morgan told Garcia after studying his character's profile, "but this Joseph guy sounds like a real bore."

Garcia held in a sigh. She knew she was being over-sensitive, but it felt as if every comment he made was a criticism directed at her. She tried to tell herself that he didn't know the real reason that she had brought them all there. "He's suppose to be an intellectual."

Morgan scoffed. "Yeah, a boring one. There is no way that a fun-loving character like Regina is going to be in love with a guy like Joseph."

"No, of course not," Garcia muttered. This time, she couldn't hold back the sigh as she stood, turning away from him. "How could anyone that was fun and sexy be with someone that was brainy?"

"Is there something going on that you're not telling me?" Morgan asked. He stood behind her. "You started out so bubbly and happy, but you've grown increasingly... sad. Did I do something?"

Garcia shook her head. "No," she choked, trying to hide the tears that were welling up in her eyes. "You didn't do anything. This is all on me."

Morgan wrapped his arms around her. "Tell me what's going on."

She stepped out of his embrace and faced him, wiping away the tears that had fallen. "It's nothing. It's just been a really bad few months and I guess it's all catching up to me now."

"Are you ready to talk about the break-up?" Morgan knew that the break-up wasn't what had her so upset, but he had to get her talking and keep her talking to get to the bottom of it.

"Sure," she whispered. Garcia wasn't really ready to talk about the break-up, but she was even less willing to talk about what had her so upset. She rose and moved to the bed, intending to put some distance between the two of them, only to have him follow her. Garcia sat against the headboard. "It happened after the last case that I went on with you guys a few months ago. I decided to surprise Kevin at his place since we got home a few hours earlier than we thought we would. I walked into his apartment and -"

"That bastard was cheating on you, wasn't he?" Morgan huffed, his nostrils flaring in anger.

Garcia nodded. "He wasn't just cheating on me. He was cheating on me with Anderson."

Morgan's jaw dropped. "An-Anderson? Our Agent Anderson."

"The very same."

"How did you- I mean, what did you- I-" Morgan stumbled. He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure what it is that I'm asking."

Garcia rolled her eyes. "I caught them bent over the back of the couch. Anderson was on the bottom. He says that he likes to be submissive during sex."

"You talked to him about it?" Morgan shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, yeah," Garcia replied. "He's still my friend. He came to apologize. He thought that Kevin and I were broken up. He dumped Kevin that night, but I know Kevin and he wouldn't have cheated like that unless he really cared about the other person so I convinced Anderson to give it another shot."

Morgan frowned. "Well, if you're okay with it then I don't understand-"

Garcia stood abruptly. "No, I'm not okay with it! I may not blame Anderson, but I sure as hell blame Kevin. He cheated on me! And whether he cared about the other person or not, he still hurt me!" She began to pace around the room. "Oh, he apologized; said he was confused by the feelings he had for Anderson. He told me that this was the first time that he ever cheated on a partner. Of course!"

"What does that mean?" Morgan asked her, confused. His eyes were following her loyally as she moved.

"It means that I was never the type of girl that got the guy and I'm still not," she replied, defeated, dropping her chin to her chest. "I should have expected something like this to happen." She swiped at her eyes. "I just wish I knew why."

Morgan snuck over to her and lifted her chin. "Why do you think your not the girl that gets the guy?"

Garcia pulled out of his grip, but didn't step away, even as her eyes focused on the far wall. "I'm just not."

"Is that what this weekend is all about?" he asked. "Were you trying to move into a new relationship? Do you have a thing for Rossi?"

"Rossi!?" Garcia repeated. Her eyes hardened as they flung back to his. "You think I have a thing for Rossi?"

"Well, why not?" Morgan shot back, ignoring the pains he felt in his chest. "He's intelligent, courageous, well-groomed-"

"Well-groomed?"

Morgan continued as if he hadn't heard her. "-loyal, giving, dedicated, charming-"

Garcia scoffed. "And completely hung up on Emily." She immediately covered her mouth with hands.

"He's- he's what?" Morgan queried. He squinted his eyes in confusion. Seeing her reluctance to elaborate any further, he switched subjects away from Rossi. "Well, if it's not Rossi, then who? I can't imagine it's Reid; you guys are too close as friends."

"You don't think friends can be more?" she questioned.

Morgan shrugged. "It depends on the friendship. When it's more of a sibling type friendship like you guys have, I think that's hard to overcome. Or are you telling me you have a crush on Rid?"

Garcia made a face. "No, I don't have a crush on Reid."

"Is it Hotch?" he asked next, feeling his heart drop a bit. "It's not uncommon to have a crush on your boss, especially one that has such a commanding presence as Hotch."

"I don't have a crush on Hotch," Garcia retorted. Realizing he could pick himself next, she quickly said, "What makes you think I have a crush on anyone? This weekend was about getting away from work and relationships and everything."

Morgan took a step towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Okay. I'm sorry that I upset you."

Garcia bit her bottom lip. "You didn't upset me. I probably should have told you all about Kevin before today."

"Yeah, you probably should have so that I could tell you what a wonderful, amazing, sensual woman that you are and anyone that can't see that is a fool."

"Anyone?" she whispered.

Morgan stood just out of touch of her, feeling her body heat. "Yes, anyone." He lowered his face towards hers, his lips nearly brushing hers when the crackle of the walkie-talkie broke them apart.

"Morgan? Penelope? Are you there?" Rossi called out. "Pick up. We need to talk."

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Strauss took a step back, fiddling nervously with her hands. "Because my husband's left me and I'm pretty sure that my kids blame me."

Reid paused, unsure of how to answer her and visibly uncomfortable by the tears to Strauss' eyes. He had a flitting desire to kiss any tears away. He forced that thought out of his hand and concentrated on cooking dinner and listening to his companion.

"I'm sorry," Strauss apologized. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"You didn't," he reassured her. "The thing is that I was a lot younger than your kids when my dad left and I was so afraid of losing my mom too that I never entertained the thought of blaming her." Reid frowned when she nodded without replying. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Strauss sighed. "Megan, my oldest, is away at college. Every time I try to talk to her about it, she suddenly has to go to class or study. My son, Nicholas, is in his senior year. He never leaves his room anymore. He's always playing on the computer or playing video games. He was always a bright kid and a bit shy, but it's like he doesn't even want to try to socialize anymore. And my baby, Danielle, she's been getting into all kinds of trouble, mouthing off to her teachers, staying out past curfew."

Reid offered her a small smile. "It all sounds pretty normal." He paused from stirring the pasta. "What about you? How are you doing?"

"Devastated. Embarrassed. Relieved. Take your pick," she replied, sitting at the table. "Sometimes, it feels like I've loved Tim my entire life. We were together for almost thirty-five years and married for nearly thirty of those. Our lives have been so intertwined that I'm not sure how to live my life without him." She took a sip of her water. "But on the other hand, we haven't talk or acted like a couple outside of keeping up appearances in years. I haven't felt comfortable in my own house with him in years. When I found out that he was having an affair with his secretary, I was actually glad. I'm looking forward to it just being me and my kids. Does that make me a horrible person?"

"No, I think it makes you human," Reid told her, scooping spaghetti onto plates. "We all deserve to be happy; to feel as if we belong, especially in our own homes."

Strauss glanced at the plate in front of her, but made no move to eat any of it. She waited until Reid sat down before speaking again. "You know, I'm taking my kids to the Bahamas with me. I'm hoping it will give us all a chance to begin to heal."

"It sounds like it could help," Reid told her, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his voice. "I know that the times I spent with my mother while she was coherent and focused on me were some of the best memories of my childhood."

She covered his hand with hers and squeezed it. "Can I be completely honest with you?"

Reid nodded. "You can- you can tell me anything."

"I would love to go somewhere by myself and lose myself for a day or two, maybe found someone to lose myself with and for once not worry about my kids or my job or anything but not thinking about my life."

"Well, you're here now. Maybe, you can do that until tomorrow," Reid offered, "or if you wanted to stay until Sunday, you're more than welcome."

Strauss licked her lips. "Spencer, are you offering to help me lose myself for the evening?"

Reid swallowed, audibly, his pulse picking up. He debated which way to answer her. If he went with a flirty answer and she took offense, she could make his life a living hell. If he went with a serious answer and she trying to have fun, he could hurt her feelings when she was already in a delicate place in her life.

"Spencer-" she started when he took too long to reply, suddenly feeling foolish for taking them down this path.

"No," he cut her off, deciding to throw caution to the wind, "I would love to help you lose yourself for the evening." He squirmed when she continuously stared at him, her jaw hanging down. He willed himself to talk in an evenly manner. "Are you going to eat? You might need the strength for later."

Strauss shook her head, bringing herself out of her daze. She was overwhelmed by the responses her body gave when he spoke. She tingled in places that she hadn't for a long time. Averting her eyes from Reid's when she felt her cheeks heat up, Strauss picked up her fork and began to eat.

They ate in near silence, the only noise from the clanking of the silverware against the plates. They were each lost in their thoughts. Strauss was fighting images of the different positions she would like to put Reid into while Reid was wondering just how far each of them was willing to take this teasing. Reid reached forward to grab his water at the same time that Strauss reached for hers brushing against each other's fingers. They paused at the electricity that fired when they touched.

"You know, I think I'm full," Reid announced, his voice slightly higher than normal.

"Me, too," she agreed.

They both rose from the table at the same time. She waited a beat before grabbing Reid's sweater and pulling him to her. Strauss waited no time in descending her lips upon his. She gasped when he brought his hands up to her breasts, brushing her erect nipples through the fabric of her blouse. Her gasp allowed him to sweep his tongue into her mouth and take control of the kiss.

Strauss moaned deep in her throat as he walked them in circles towards the bed. She pulled at the shirt under his sweater so that she could feel the muscles on his back, surprised by the definition she found there. Strauss felt a burning deep in her stomach as she began to drown in Reid's kisses.

Hitting the back of her knees on the bed, Strauss broke the kiss. She placed her hand on his chest to push him back slightly. She sat in the middle of the bed and beckoned with her finger for Reid to follow. He got when leg up on the bed, his hand on her leg, when Rossi's voice rang throughout the cabin.

"Reid, pick-up. Reid, we have a little problem."


	5. Yours and Not Yours

"Why did you two break up anyway?"

Hotch froze, his fork halfway to his mouth. He supposed he should have expected the question from her eventually, but it still took him by surprise. "Why did Beth and I break up?"

JJ's eyebrows rose. "Yeah. And enough stalling. I've been waiting patiently for months for you to tell me and you haven't breathed a word of it."

"I was really hoping that we could continue that pattern," Hotch replied. He sighed when she continued to stare at him. "It was my fault. Or rather, it was my subconscious' fault."

"What does that mean?" she asked with a slight giggle.

Hotch took the bite that he had been holding to buy himself a little bit of time. He felt dread settling in his stomach. "Well, I-"

He was interrupted by the sound of Rossi's voice coming through the walkie-talkie.

"Hotch, you there?" Rossi called out.

"Here, Dave. What's going on?" he answered, grabbing the walkie-talkie from the counter, sending out a thank you to the universe for the interruption.

Rossi sighed. "It appears that the snowstorm has picked up a bit and we're going to have to hunker down in the bunks for the night."

Hotch felt both his heart skip a beat and his stomach clench. "Okay, Dave. I guess we'll see you tomorrow morning. And Dave, good luck."

"Good luck?" JJ repeated. She eyed him curiously. "What does he need good luck for?"

"Because he's stuck in a cabin with Prentiss," Hotch replied, returning to his seat.

JJ bit her bottom lip. "Does that mean that you know about the, you know?"

Hotch groaned. "The monumentally stupid act that Dave did that has completely sent their friendship spiraling? Yes, I know. Even when I begged not to know, I was told... in great detail. I've barely been able to look at Emily in the face the last few months."

"Do you think they'll be able to get their friendship back?" she asked. "Emily seems pretty bent on keeping away from him."

"I don't know. The thing is..." Hotch's voice trailed off. "We really shouldn't be talking about this."

JJ picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. "The thing is what?"

He cringed, not wanting to betray Rossi's confidence, but at the same time hoping to distract her from their previous conversation. "The thing is that I don't think Dave will be content with just a friendship. He wants more." Hotch took a bite of spaghetti. "What about Emily?"

She shrugged. "I'm really not sure. Emily's never been one to share her personal life. I think if I hadn't shown up at her place the morning after for our breakfast and seen the hickey, I wouldn't have any idea that she slept with Rossi."

"Let's just hope then that we're not picking up a corpse or two tomorrow morning," Hotch joked.

"Not so funny considering our line of work," JJ scolded, but the twinkle in her eye gave away her amusement. "And don't think I've forgotten about our previous conversation because I haven't. I want to know why you and Beth broke up. You seemed to really like her."

Hotch placed his fork on his plate and pushed the plate away, his appetite gone. "I did like her. I wasn't in love with her, but we had enough of a good time together. I could have seen it going somewhere."

JJ drank more of her wine. "So, then what happened?"

"I," Hotch took a deep breath, "took her away to a bed and breakfast for our... first time."

"First time?" JJ asked, trying to shoot him her most innocent look.

Hotch glared at her causing her to giggle. "We were kissing and I whispered the wrong name in her ear."

JJ burst out laughing, nearly spilling the drink in her hand. The wine was definitely starting to make her head go a bit fuzzy. "You said the wrong name? Oh, Hotch. There were a lot of things I could imagine that you would do wrong, but I have to admit, saying the wrong name was not one of them.

"What did you imagine could go wrong?" Hotch asked, slightly affronted.

"Oh, I don't know: talking about a case, distracted by Jack, burnt her while nervously passing her a cup of coffee, trying to overcompensate by getting really drunk on wine," she replied. JJ glanced down at her glass. "Maybe we forget that last part."

Hotch frowned. "Glad to see you have such faith in me."

Guilt shot through her. "I do have faith in you. I also know that this was your first relationship since Haley and you were with Haley for a long, long time. I expected there to be some stumbling blocks, that's all. I think any woman would be lucky to catch your eye."

"Thanks, JJ," he told her. "I think your full of it, but I appreciate it."

"So, just whose name did you say?" JJ demanded to know.

"I don't think-"

"Was it Emily?" she interrupted. "Is that why you know all about her dalliance with Rossi? Were you jealous?"

Hotch shook his head vigorously. "No! I would never-"

JJ laughed. "What about Penelope? You know, if Derek find out, you may have a whole other issue to work out."

"It wasn't Penelope."

"It wasn't Derek, was it?" Her eyes practically danced with mirth when he shudder. "Come on, Hotch. The man is fine! Even you have to admit that."

Attempting to gain the upper hand, he shot back, "And what would Garcia have to say about you ogling her man?"

She laughed even harder. "She would say, 'go ahead and look, blondie, but the minute you touch, I will break your fingers'. Come on, Hotch, just tell me whose name you said."

"Yours."

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"Well, that's the last of them," Rossi told Prentiss as he put down the walkie-talkie after finishing with Hotch. Prentiss made no movement from her spot looking out the window. Rossi rubbed his forehead. All of his fight seemed to go out of him. "Come on, Em. We're stuck here all night. Are you really not going to talk to me?"

"I haven't decided," Prentiss answered, her voice still icy. "It's your fault that we're stuck here, after all."

Rossi sighed. "You're right. It is my fault. All of this is my fault."

Prentiss turned at the sound of the defeat in his voice. She found him standing in the middle of the room, his shoulders slouched. She felt a slight tug on her heart that she forced away. "You're not going to make me feel sorry for you now."

"I wasn't trying to," he responded. Rossi moved to sit on the chair. "I never should have let you in that night. I should have sent you home."

"I didn't exactly give you that option," she admitted, sitting down next to him. Hearing the sincerity in his voice began to chase away her own anger. She knew it wasn't fair to put everything that happened between the two of them on his shoulders alone. "I wouldn't have gone quietly."

Rossi smiled softly, his head still bent. "You didn't come quietly either."

Prentiss huffed. "Rossi..."

"I know. I'm sorry. I knew the moment that our lips met that I wouldn't be able to let you go. I never should have let it get that far," he admitted.

"You knew before then that you would let me go?" she asked quietly, trying to understand exactly what he was telling her.

Rossi nodded. "Emily, I've known for a long time that I've had feelings for you." He itched to reach out to her. "Please don't run from me."

Prentiss paused. She had been getting ready to stand. "What do you mean you've had feelings for me for a long time?"

"I mean, I fell in love with you years ago."

"You," she stumbled and had to clear her throat. "You never said anything."

Rossi let out a defeated chuckle. "I never thought you felt anything back; that you could feel anything back. So, I was content to be your friend only."

Prentiss shook her head in disbelief. "I never had any idea."

"I'm pretty good at hiding when I want to." Rossi lifted his head and turned it away from her. "You showed up that night and you let me hold you in my arms. I thought, maybe, maybe she does feel something for me. Maybe, I'm not so undeserving after all."

"I never meant for you to feel undeserved, Dave," Prentiss whispered. "I didn't really take your feelings into account at all. I guess, I thought I could use you to feel something other than pain, but I only ended up hurting us both."

"It's my fault," he pushed. "I know my reputation. I know how I've treated people, women, in the past. I should have known the real reason that you showed up at my place that night. I shouldn't have blamed you for not feeling the same way."

Prentiss wiped a tear away from her cheek. "Dave..."

"I want to go back to being friends, Emily. I know it's going to take some time, but I want that. Even if it means that we can't be partners or even acquaintances for awhile. I-"

"Dave, stop!" she ordered. "I'm not going to let you take the blame for this. I showed up at your house. I lied when I told you that it could have been anyone. It couldn't have. I went looking for you. You're right that you know me better than anyone else, that I tell my secrets to you and not to anyone else."

Rossi licked his lips. "That makes us really good friends, Emily. It's how I should have left things. Instead, I've made everything into a giant mess."

She grabbed his hand. "No, you didn't. I did. I was the one who whispered 'I love you' in your ear. I was the one who couldn't handle the fact that we slept together, who couldn't let things go back to the way they were."

"Did you mean it when you said that you love me?" he asked her, unable to keep the bit of hope from his voice.

"What does it matter, Dave?" Prentiss asked, releasing his hand. She stood and walked away from him, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Rossi stood also. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. "It matters to me."

Her eyes watered once again. "Yes, I meant it."

"Well, then-"

"I'm pregnant, Rossi. And you're not the father."


	6. What Just Happened?

"So, it appears that we're stuck here," Reid said, turning to Strauss. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands folded in her lap, her head down. He sat down next to her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Strauss replied, though she refused to look at him. "I guess that call came at just the right time... to stop us from doing something stupid."

Reid frowned. The despondency in her voice broke his heart. Summoning courage he didn't think he had, he grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him. "I told you I was going to help you to lose yourself tonight and that's what I plan on doing. Now, stand up and strip."

Strauss' eyes grew wide as she shook her head, trying to come to terms with Spencer Reid telling her to take her clothes off. "W-what?"

"I said," Reid slid one hand down and roughly grabbed her breast, "stand up and strip. Don't make me say it again."

"Okay," she breathed out, biting her bottom lip. Strauss stood up, taking care to make sure was out of his reach. Slowly, swaying her hips slightly back and forth, she unbuttoned her blouse. She slid the silky material down her arms, letting it pool at her feet. Strauss grinned at the bulge in Reid's pants, spurring on her confidence.

She reached for the zipper on her slacks next, bringing it down bit by little bit. Reid was nearly panting now. He shifted uncomfortable on the bed. Strauss stepped out of her slacks, her shoes having been discarded when they first entered the shack. She stood there in a pair of matching white bra and panties.

"When I said strip, I meant it all," Reid growled, licking his lips. She unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the floor before hooking her panties with her thumb, removing them from her body. She didn't let those hit the floor, however, but tossed them to Reid. He took a deep whiff then tucked them in his pocket. "Mm. Delicious."

"Now, Dr. Reid," Strauss purred, lean close to him, "I think it's time for you to strip for me."

Eagerly, Reid jumped up, nearly hitting into Strauss in process. She simply laughed as she took his place on the bed. She spread her legs open, allowing him to see the moisture already gathering there. Reid took a deep breath before shucking his clothes all over the place. He allowed Strauss to study him for a few seconds before pouncing upon her.

"My, my, my, Dr. Reid," Strauss laughed as he hovered over her, "you are certainly full of surprises."

"You have no idea," Reid promised. He fastened his mouth over hers, plundering her with licks and nips until she was dizzy. He was careful to keep the rest of their bodies out of contact. Reid released her mouth to attack her neck with the same fervor. When she gasped his name, he moved down her chest, peppering kisses around her breasts, swiping his tongue over her nipples as he passed. Reid bit her navel, then her right hip. He blew hot air up her center, grinning as she trembled.

"Don't tease," Strauss half-begged.

Reid smirked, kneeling between her knees. "Teasing is the best part." To prove his point, Reid danced his fingers over her thighs, drawing random patterns. "Did you know that fingertips are the second most sensitive body parts? Right after the tongue."

He leaned down, kissing the outer lips of her bare vagina, teasingly. Reid raised his head, making eye contact with her as he ran his tongue over his lips. "You taste scrumptious."

Strauss gave off a little squeak, her entire body flushed with arousal. Reid ran his hands up her legs to caress her stomach. He once again lowered his mouth to her hot center. While continuously stroking her skin with his fingers, his tongue played in her folds. He wrote his name, her name, and the Greek alphabet with his tongue, only fleetingly touching her clit.

Reid felt her body tense and knew she was close. He repositioned his mouth to focus on her swollen bud. He gently encumbered it with his teeth and began to suck, thrusting his tongue faster and faster while his hands moved up her torso to capture her breasts, pulling on her nipples.

A fine sheen of sweat covered Strauss as her hands fisted the blanket on the bed. She took one last gulp before her orgasm exploded. "Oh God! Yes, Spencer, yes!"

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"Okay, thanks, Rossi," Morgan said into the walkie-talkie. "We'll see you tomorrow."

Morgan turned around to find Garcia once again sitting at the table, her head bent over the case once again. He could tell, however, that she wasn't really reading them. The two of them had been off all night and he wasn't sure exactly why. She had seemed excited while they were in the main house, her normal bubbly self, but she repeatedly withdrew from him as the evening went on. Initially, he thought it was a reaction to her break up with Kevin, but outside of a bit of expected anger, she seemed okay over the whole situation.

She had turned nervous, though, when he was teasing her about having a crush on one of the guys in the BAU. She denied it, of course, but he couldn't help but think he was on to something based on her reaction and the way she quickly changed the subject. Sure, she thought he didn't notice that she had done that, but he noticed everything about her.

Morgan sighed as he studied her profile. Plus, there was that little thing were he was going to kiss her before Rossi interrupted. At least, Morgan was pretty sure he was going to kiss her. And he was pretty sure that she wanted it, too. Or he had been at the time. Now, he was questioning that certainty. She had moved away from him rather quickly.

"Any new insights?" Morgan asked her, stepping over to the table.

"Huh?" Garcia replied. She glanced up at him, but refused to meet his eyes.

He gestured towards the papers. "Have you figured out who the killer is yet?"

Garcia shook her head. "No. It was a dumb idea to make everyone do this anyway. We should have gone to the beach like JJ wanted."

"What brought this on?" Morgan tilted her chin up. His chest tightened at seeing the dejection in her eyes. She kept them on his stomach. "Penelope?"

"I think I've got Emily's character figured out. Reid's, too," she replied, ignoring his question. "Hotch is going to be a hard one. That man's a great actor. We'll never know if he's the killer. He won't give anything away."

Morgan sighed for the second time. He was unwilling to let her slip from him. He held out his hand. "Dance with me."

For the first time since Rossi's interruption, she met his gaze, startled. "What?"

Morgan grinned. "Dance with me."

"There's no music," Garcia protested, as he pulled her out of her seat.

"I'll make the music," he whispered in her ear, settling her body against his. Morgan hummed a tone that she almost recognized.

Garcia nuzzled her nose in the crook of his neck, breathing in his spicy scent. She could feel her heart beat a little faster. "What's that song?"

Morgan twirled her out and back in. "Just a little something I made up. Would you like the lyrics?" She nodded as he drew their hands up towards her face. "Oh, Penelope. You are so beautiful. You make my world come alive. I don't know where I'd be without your smile."

"Those," she told him with a twinkle in her eye, "are some horrific lyrics."

"Well, Barry Manilow, I am not," Morgan teased. "But it's all true. You light up my life."

Garcia broke away from him, frowning. She turned so he couldn't see her face. "Not today, Derek. I'm not in the mood."

Morgan's eyes narrowed, befuddle. "In the mood for what?"

"For this... flirting thing we have going on," she replied, waving her hands around. "I don't want to hear about how I light up or life or how I make your world come alive when we both know it's not true."

"What are you talking about?" Morgan walked over in front of her.

Garcia put her hand on her forehead. "We're friends; best friends, but that's all we are and all this... other stuff just confuses things! It has to stop. I need it to stop."

He placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to be comforting. "I don't understand."

"Of course, you don't! Because I'm not making any sense!" Garcia spat out.

"Penelope!" Morgan roared, causing them both to flinch. He took two deep breaths. "What is going on?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Do you really think that Joseph is too boring for Regina?"

Morgan's arm fell to his side. "Who are Joseph and Regina?"

"From the game!" Garcia shouted, storming over to the table and grabbing the file. "Don't you see? I am Joseph and you are Regina! And if you think Joseph is too boring for Regina than I am obviously too boring for you! I can't do this anymore! I can't think there's something between us only to be crushed over and over when it's clear there isn't!"

They both fell quiet, the only noise coming from Garcia's soft pants. Neither was able to look the other in the eye after Garcia's outburst. Morgan closed his hands into a fist then advanced on her.

"You're wrong," Morgan muttered before capturing her lips with his own.


	7. Strangers and Fantasizes

"Pregnant," Rossi repeated. His hands dropped from her shoulders as the news sunk in.

"Yeah, so you see-"

"Whose?" he demanded.

Prentiss took a step back, surprised by his strong reaction. "Why does it matter?"

Rossi's ire grew at her avoidance of the question. "Because I'm asking you. Because I want to know. Because it matters!"

"I don't know!" she screamed. "Is that what you want to hear? I was lonely one night and went to a bar. I found some good-looking stranger to fuck in the bathroom and found myself knocked up. Happy now?" Prentiss turned away from him, moving to the window.

"Emily-"

"No," she said, cutting him off. "I know it was stupid. I know something could have happened to me then... could still happen to me now." She half smiled to herself. "I've been tested, will continue to be tested. So far, I'm clean."

Rossi reached out and touched her shoulder, turning her to face him. He spoke in a much calmer voice. "Why, Emily? If you were that lonely, why didn't you come find me?"

Prentiss hung her head. "I couldn't. I can't. I can't let it happen again."

"Why?" Even to his own ears, her was beginning to sound like a broken record.

"Because." She covered her mouth with her hand as she stepped away from him. "Because you scare me, Dave."

Rossi flopped down in the chair. He hadn't expected that answer from her. "I scare you?"

Prentiss sat on the edge of the bed, her hands folded in her lap. "It's not you as much as it's me. I could fall so deeply in love with you so easily, but it wouldn't work."

"Because of my previous marriages," Rossi concluded. He closed his eyes as if in pain. "I guess I could see where that would scare you off. I don't have the greatest reputation when it comes to women."

"No," she said, softly, surprising him. She had moved over to the chair without him realizing it. Prentiss smiled briefly. "I know you. I know that you loved each of your wives. And I know that your reputation is mostly just talk. Even if it wasn't, I know you. I know you're more than that. I know you would love me, do anything to protect me."

Rossi grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. "I would. I will."

Prentiss ran her hand through his hair. "I don't need protected from you. You need protected from me. I'm a train wreck. Everything in my life gets ruined and it's no one's fault but mine." She sighed. "I just don't think I'm the type of girl to fall in love."

He grimaced. "What does that even mean? Everyone deserves to fall in love."

"I just don't think I'm what you need."

"What I need?" Rossi repeated, some of the fire coming back into him. He stood and faced her. "What I need is for you to not tell me what I need. What I need is for you to be honest with me. You have jumped all over the place with reasons why you're scared; why you can't be with me."

Nearly sobbing in relief that she could fall back on anger, Prentiss shot back, "I'm sorry that my answers aren't good enough for the great David Rossi! I'm sorry that I can't give you a satisfactory answer!"

Rossi pulled at his hair. "I don't even know what we're arguing about anymore!"

"Isn't that the point?" Prentiss tossed her hands in the air, feeling oddly pleased with herself. "Every conversation that we have on a personal level ends in an argument. This is why we need to keep it strictly professional."

"Emily." He flexed his hands to keep his anger in check, realizing the game that she was playing, but not quite understanding why. "What are you planning to do about the baby?"

She flinched, startled by his change in subject. She tilted her head, slightly. "I'm keeping it. I'm going to raise it. I-"

"How?"

"I, um," she stumbled. "What do you mean?"

Rossi licked his lips. "Are you going to quit the BAU? Hire a nanny? Have your mother move to DC liked JJ did?"

Prentiss paled. "I don't know. I haven't thought that far in advance."

"What are you going to tell everyone about his father? Are you going to tell them the truth? Or are you going to tell everyone that you used a sperm donor? Maybe it was an old friend that blew into town?" he continued. "And then blew into you?"

"Really?" she huffed.

Shrugging, Rossi inwardly smirked. "I'm just trying to clarify the situation. I mean, we should probably have our stories straight when this news all comes out."

Prentiss shook her head. "The only thing you need to do is keep your mouth shut."

"We work with a team full of profilers, Emily," Rossi said. "You don't think they're going to figure out something's up?"

"What is this really about, Dave?"

Rossi let the smirk form slowly across his face before replying, "I think you should let me be the baby's father."

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"Yours."

JJ stopped laughed immediately. Her eyes grew wide and she drew in a deep breath. Of all the possible names, her own was the least likely that she thought she would hear.

"I'm sorry," Hotch apologized after a few moments of silence. "I clearly made you uncomfortable. Forget I said anything."

"No! You didn't! I promise," JJ insisted, placing her hand on his arm. "I'm just surprised is all. I'm... flattered?"

Hotch groaned. He picked up the wine bottle and began to chug it. He could barely taste the wine as it slipped over his tongue.

"What are you doing?" JJ demanded, attempting to grab the bottle from him. He slapped her hand away. "Hotch, stop."

"No," he refused. "We're stuck in here for the night and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to need this to get through the rest of it." With that, he finished the bottle before grabbing the second one from the fridge.

She grabbed the bottle as he sat back down. "At least, let me get another glass before you drink it all. And you better not puke. I'll put you out in the snow."

Hotch dropped his head to the table. "I'm such an idiot."

"For chugging the wine? Can't say that I disagree," JJ tried to joke, but it fell flat. She ran her hand through his hair. "You're not an idiot. I would hope that after all this time, you would know that you can tell me anything." She paused in her stroking. "You do know that, right?"

"I know," he replied, raising his head. He took another chug of wine. "It doesn't mean that I should."

JJ frowned. "Hotch... would it help if I told you why Will and I broke up?"

Hotch pursed his lips. "Is it worse than whispering the wrong name?"

"Ah, yeah." JJ blushed, furiously. "Although, kind of along the same lines." She covered her face, briefly with her hands. "I... I called out your name during sex. More than once."

Hotch opened and closed his mouth several times before speaking. "How many times? Are we talking twice?"

"Um, after the sixth time, Will demanded that I either leave the BAU or he was leaving," she explained. "I couldn't leave again. I was miserable the entire year that I was gone."

"So, let me get this straight, you and Will broke up because you called out my name during, you know, and because you wouldn't leave the BAU?" Hotch let out a long breath. "I mean, I can understand not leaving; it's what broke Haley and me up in the end."

JJ raised her eyebrows. "Oh, I know. I got an earful about it more than once from Haley."

Hotch flinched. "Yeah, sorry about that. I really ended up sticking you in the middle of that. I'm sorry."

"I understood." JJ reached out to lay her hand on his arm. "It was a rough time for both of you."

"It's still not an excuse."

"It's old news, Hotch. Let it go," she urged. JJ withdrew her hand and bit down on her lip. She knew the alcohol was getting to her when the next idea popped into her head and there was no voice to discourage her. "You know, we have ourselves an interesting situation."

Hotch chuckled. "We do?"

She nodded. "We do. See, it appears that in... certain situations... when we should really be thinking about the people we're with, we appear to be thinking about each other. What do you suppose it means?"

"I know exactly what it means," Hotch answered, boldly. His eyes roamed all over her face, taking in her features. "You are an extremely attractive woman, JJ. The most beautiful woman that I've ever laid eyes on."

"And what does it mean for me?" she teased.

Hotch sighed. "It means that you see me as an authority figure and were looking for a way out of a miserable situation so your mind projected an image of me in the situations where you found yourself unhappy."

JJ grimaced. "You truly are an idiot."

"What?" Hotch's mouth fell open.

"If you honestly believe that I fantasize about you night after night because you're an authority figure, then you are an idiot," JJ explained further.

Hotch ducked his head. "Night after night?"

She slapped her forehead, realizing her slip. "Crap."

"Are you saying that you find me attractive?" Hotch needled, grinning widely.

JJ took a deep breath. "You bet your ass I do."


	8. Prolonging the Inevitable

"You're wrong," Morgan muttered before capturing her lips with his own.

Garcia moaned as Morgan's tongue glided over hers. The team teased him for years over his "womanizing" ways, but if this kiss was any indication, it was the woman that had been throwing themselves at him and not the other way around. His skill was out of this world. Garcia quickly got lost in the feel and taste of him, only coming to her senses when her back hit the wall.

"Stop," she demanded, pushing him away from her. "Just stop. You can't just kiss me to end an argument!"

"We were arguing?" Morgan questioned, trying to remember the conversation exactly in his mind. His mind, however, had turned to mush the moment his lips touched hers. He felt as though every sense was tingling.

Garcia sighed. "Not exactly. I was arguing. You were just standing there confused."

Morgan rubbed his head. "Not a lot has changed on that front. I'm still confused."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her eyes watering. She turned away from him. "I'm making a mess out of everything."

"Maybe," he grabbed her shoulder to turn her to him, "you should just tell me what this is all about, starting with why you and Rossi planned this weekend in the first place?"

Garcia sighed again. She brushed past him to flop down on the bed, bouncing slightly. "You and I have been spending a lot of time together the past few months."

"We-"

"I know. We have always spent together," she interrupted. "But not like this. We've been together almost every day that you've been in town and when you're away, you call me constantly just to talk."

Morgan felt his heart drop as he tried to understand what she wasn't saying. "Am I overstepping boundaries? Do you need me to take a step back?"

Garcia shook her head, violently. "No, that's not what I want at all!" She took a deep breath, gesturing calmly with her hands.

"What do you want?" he asked, grabbing her hands.

"Do you know that Emily has stopped talking to Rossi?"

Morgan nearly got whiplash from the change in conversation. "Huh?"

She glanced away from him. "Rossi won't tell me exactly what happened, but whatever it was happened after Emily returned. They were really close for awhile and then all of a sudden, there was nothing. I suggested this weekend for all of us to go away together and he jumped at the chance. He offered to pay for everything. He even said he would threaten anyone that tried to get out of it. He really wants to talk to Emily. He arranged it so that they would be paired up."

"What does that have to do with us?" he asked

"They're not the only pairing that we arranged."

Morgan bit back a sigh, knowing that he had to tread carefully or else she would shut down completely. ""I know. You also arranged for JJ and Hotch to be paired up. We already went over that."

Garcia threw her hands in the air, exasperated. "I did not put JJ and Hotch in the same cabin! Hotch is still dating Beth!"

"No, he's not," Morgan told her, unable to not correct her, despite wanting to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her. "I'm not sure exactly when they broke up, but I overheard Hotch and JJ talking about it last week."

"JJ knew and I didn't?" She seemed almost dumbfounded by that. "You knew and you didn't say anything to me? We were talking about it in the car!"

Morgan frowned. "Could we focus here? If you didn't arrange for JJ and Hotch to pair up together and you definitely couldn't have arranged for Reid and Strauss to be paired up together. So, do you want to tell me the reason that you paired us up?"

Garcia bit her bottom lip. "You and I have been spending a lot of time together lately."

"Penelope! Enough!" he roared. "Just stop. You're dragging your feet on talking to me and I don't know why. You're my best friend. The one that I tell everything to. The one that I can be myself with. You should know by know that you can tell me anything."

"That's just it. I'm not sure that you're going to want to be my friend after this or if I'll be too embarrassed to by yours. If I'm too embarrassed to be your friend, I'll have to quit my job and find a new one." She was rattling off rapidly now. "It'll have to be in another state. No, it'll have to be in another country because you fly all over the country and I couldn't risk running into you on a random street corner somewhere."

He cupped her face to get her to stop talking. "I can't imagine that anything you have to say would be that bad."

Garcia scrunched her face, drawing courage all the way up from her toes. "I paired us up this weekend because I was hoping that it would give us an opportunity to discuss the possibility of becoming more than friends."

Standing above her, Morgan began to laugh.

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A fine sheen of sweat covered Strauss as her hands fisted the blanket on the bed. She took one last gulp before her orgasm exploded. "Oh God! Yes, Spencer, yes!"

As her breath returned to normal, Strauss raised her herself on her elbows. She looked down to see Reid staring up at her, a smirk on his face. This was definitely a side of Spencer Reid that she never expected was there.

"I-" Strauss was cut off when Reid plunged his tongue into her center. She tried to make a sound of protest as she was one who rarely came more than once, but within a minute he was already revving her back up. She tried to speak, but words failed her and she could only grunt and squeal.

He was a magician with his tongue and whatever he was doing with his chin was causing her to break out into sweat. Reid sent wave after wave of pleasure coursing through her veins. He spun her up, spiraling her higher and higher towards release, but not quite letting her go over the edge. She had one hand gripping his hair and the other gripping the headboard, banging it off of the cabin wall.

When her second orgasm finally washed over her, Strauss howled like she was a wolf and Reid the moon. She passed out briefly from the intensity. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Reid hovering over her, a concerned expression on his face.

"I was afraid that I lost you there for a moment," Reid told her.

"For a moment, you did," she purred. Strauss placed her hands on her thighs, could feel them still trembling. "You know, Agent Morgan is the one with the reputation of being able to please a woman, but he has nothing on you." Reid ducked his head, bashful. Strauss ran her hand up his chest. "I don't know who taught you that, but I feel like I should send them a fruit basket. I feel marvelous."

Reid's fingertips danced over her taut stomach. "There was a college professor when I a grad student. She was... quite a bit older than me, but took a keen interest in my personal schooling. She was a wonderful teacher, patient and thorough, and I was an eager student." His cheeks grew red again. "I... don't have a lot of experience when it comes to relationships... and my numbers aren't as large as Morgan's, but I like to give my partner pleasure, to see her completely give herself over to me. The look of pure bliss when she's gone over the edge and feels with total abandon is the biggest high that I have ever had in my life."

Strauss licked her lips as her hormones spiked once again at his words. She grabbed his upper arms and rolled them carefully so that she straddled him. In the small bed, however, they were nearly off the edge. "I think, it's time for me to get the same bit of high."

"No, wait!" Reid said, suddenly, stopping her just before she took his member into her mouth. "I'm not really a fan of fellatio."

"What?" Strauss sat back on her heels, peering into his face, stunned. This was the first man she had been with that didn't want a blow job, especially after the show he had given her.

Reid shrugged, almost embarrassed. "I just never learned to like it. I always feel so... disconnected from the person that I'm making love with when they are... doing that."

She nodded in understanding, though she wasn't sure that she agreed with his stance. Personally, she loved the control that she had over the men that she was performing on, but his voice was so sincere, she didn't want to push him. "How do you feel about a hand job?"

"As long as you stay close to me, I think that would be okay," he agreed.

"Good." Strauss leaned down to kiss him at the same time that she moved a hand between her legs. Gathering moisture there, she slathered it over his erection. She began to stroke him up and down, following the veins. When he began to moan in her mouth, she increased her movements and cupped his balls carefully. Strauss ran her tongue over over his stomach and chest.

"Erin. Oh, Erin!" Reid groaned. "Oh, you are an enchantress, a wizard, a sorceress." He squirmed when she chuckled against his rib. "Mm, Erin. Do you know all the things that I plan to do to you."

Strauss bit the inside of her mouth as whispered in her ear all the ways that he intended on having her. Once or twice, her rhythm falter over his plans. Too soon, Reid was thrusting in her hand.

"I'm coming!" Reid screamed, his words bouncing off the walls.


	9. Surprising Revelations

"Are you saying that you find me attractive?" Hotch needled, grinning widely.

JJ took a deep breath. "You bet your ass I do."

Hotch froze. "You're not serious."

JJ stood and walked over to him. She put her hands on his shoulders. "You are a very attractive man."

"With this nose and these wrinkles?" he countered. "I'm too thin. My ears kind of stick out. That's not not even starting on my scars."

"Take it off," JJ ordered, pulling on his shirt.

Startled, Hotch pulled back from her. "What are you doing?"

She pulled him out of the chair and yanked his shirt from his jeans. "Take this off right now. I'm going to show you just how fetching you really are."

"JJ-" His voice trailed off when she glared at him, her hands on her hips. The wine he had chugged earlier was definitely affecting him as he was sure it was affecting her. This was not normal behavior for either of them. Still, he was game to see where this was going. "Okay, I'll take it off."

"Hooootchhhhh," JJ whistled when he tossed his shirt into the corner. His entire body flushed. JJ ran her hands over his chest and arms. "You are so much more defined than you let off. You have to start wearing tighter shirts and taking off your jacket." She moved her hands to his shoulders and neck. "All those times that you've sent me in to flirt with a male LEO, we should have been sending you."

Hotch let out a long breath as he felt himself harden with her so close. "JJ." He looked down at his chest. "The only thing I see when I look at myself are the scars. They're my penance for not saving Haley, for leaving Jack motherless. They're a symbol of all of my failures: Gideon and Elle and Sean and all the people I couldn't save."

JJ grabbed his chin forcibly. "Stop!" She softened her grip. "Just stop. You know what I see when I look at these?"

"What?" he whispered, almost afraid of her answer.

"I see," JJ slid her hands back down to his chest. She placed a series of kisses along one of his scars, "bravery." She shifted to kiss across another scar. "I see courage." She ran her tongue over the long scar down the center. "I see a man who loved his family so much that he killed for them."

Hotch growled over the feel of her on his skin. "You see all that?"

She looked up from yet another scar. "I see so much more. Do you want me to go on?" He gulped and nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from her intense blues. She moved to another scar. "I see a protector, a mentor, an amazing man." JJ blew across his skin as she moved her way back up his body. "We all have scars, Hotch. They make us who we are."

"We do?" She nodded. "Can I see some of your scars?"

"Sure." JJ lifted her own shirt over her head, revealing her black lace bra, a stark contrast to her porcelain skin. She raised her right arm and pointed to a small scar under her upper arm. "This is where Beth Davis nailed me during the championship game my senior year. I wrapped and jumped right back in the game." She pointed to her left shoulder. "This one I got breaking up a fight between a girlfriend and her boyfriend."

Hotch leaned forward and placed a lingering kiss on the scar. "I hope you kicked his ass."

JJ nodded. "He moved away after a month." She kicked off her shoes before she crept her hands down to her jeans where she began to painstakingly unbutton the button and lower the zipper. JJ lowered them to the floor and stepped out of the jeans. She smiled at the hitch in Hotch's breath. She pointed to her knee. "This one I got when Henry ran out in front of a car. He, of course, got away completely unscathed."

"Of course," Hotch repeated.

"Hotch?" JJ said, after a few minutes of silence where he continued to study every inch of her body.

"Huh?" he mumbled, his clouded eyes snapping to hers.

She gave him a bemused smile. "It's a little chilly in here. I think, I'm going to hop into bed."

Hotch shook his head. "Oh, okay."

"I'm still cold," JJ complained after a few minutes. She smirked at Hotch, who hadn't moved from his position in the middle of the cabin. "Maybe you should get in here and warm me up."

"Yeah. Um, what?"

JJ giggled. "Hotch, I think that wine went to your head. Strip and get here."

Hotch jumped as her words finally pierced the veil of haze surrounding his head. His eyes bugged out of his head as JJ tossed back the blanket, once again revealing her black bra and panties against her smooth skin. Hotch grinned. "Yes, ma'am!

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"I think you should let me be the baby's father."

"Are you insane?" Prentiss shrieked. "Why on earth would you want to take responsibility for another man's child? Especially when you're not involved with the mother?"

Rossi maintain a cool exterior even as he was nothing but nerves on the inside. "Because I love you."

Prentiss threw her hands up. "So?"

"So, I already love this baby."

"This is not happening," she muttered, pinching her nose. "You are not in love with me, Dave."

Rossi sighed. "We've already been through this. You may not like it, bella, but I am most definitely in love with you."

Prentiss shook her head. "This is not happening."

"What? The baby? Our love? Global warming?"

"This conversation!" she roared. "This conversation is not happening. You cannot be the father of my child, Dave. It wouldn't work."

Forcing himself to remain calm, he touched her shoulder. "Why not?" He released her when she began to bristle. "What if I tell you why I think it would work?"

Closing her eyes briefly, she nodded. "Go ahead."

"First of all, with me as the father, you won't have to answer any of those pesky 'who's the father' questions. Once you tell them that I am, they'll make up their own stories about how I did you wrong. I do have a reputation, after all. You'll have the sympathy vote."

"It's not a contest." She sighed. "Besides, I can always tell people that I was artificially inseminated."

Rossi shrugged. "You could, but that's just inviting more questions: where'd you go, how'd you do it. This is an easier way to deal with that. How about this? I can easily afford a nanny so that you can remain with the BAU."

She huffed. "So can my mother."

"Ah, but she'll want a say in what nanny you choose. You'll also have to deal with her nagging you about quitting the BAU to stay home with the baby."

"Maybe I want to stay home," Prentiss countered, though she didn't really.

Licking his lips, he replied, "Then I have the funds to allow you to completely stay at home."

Prentiss frowned. "Okay, so far you have rumors and money as reasons that I should let you be the baby's father. I can work around both of those."

"What about having another person there when it all gets to be too much? When it's the fourth night in a row that she's up all night teething, you can call me. Or when you have a consult and she's sick, I can be there. And I know you're thinking that you can just use the nanny, but it's not the same as having someone in the trenches with you, someone not being paid." Rossi froze when he noticed Prentiss growing pale. "Look, I know that you can be a great mother all on your own. You are strong and brave and there is nothing that you can't tackle, but it doesn't mean that you have to do it alone. I am standing here offering to help you, offering to give your child a father."

"But-"

Placing a finger on her lips to quiet her, Rossi continued, "Yes, you'll have the team and your family, but your parents live out of the country and the team has their own lives and their own families. I'm offering you a chance to be a family; you, me, and this baby."

She shook his finger free. "We-"

"I understand that we won't be a couple. I don't expect you to suddenly change your mind about wanting a relationship because we have a baby. Millions of folks that aren't together have children and a good majority seem to be doing okay." Rossi took a deep breath. "I'm willing to let this be completely on your terms. If you don't want me to spend time alone with the baby, that's fine. If you want me to be more of an uncle than a father, we can do that. But if you're willing to let me be a father in every sense of the word, well, I would just love that."

Prentiss turned from him, running her hands over her face. She had spent the last two months, ever since those two little lines appeared, convincing herself that she could do this on her own. She was Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, daughter of Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss, and she was raised to be independent, to not lean on anyone. It was a lesson that she learned on her own as a teenager.

Yet, here before her stood David Rossi and was offering to lighten her burdens, to get down into the trenches with her. Parenthood was not a walk in the park. One look at JJ or Hotch confirmed that. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone to turn to when emotions threatened to overwhelm her, whether it was sadness, joy, anger, etc.? Prentiss tried to picture her daughter at five, at ten, at eighteen. Would she be better off with a father in her life?

Still, one thing bothered her. She turned back to Rossi. "What are you getting out of this?"


	10. Is It Me You're Looking For?

"I'm coming!" Reid screamed, his words bouncing off the walls.

When he opened his eyes, several minutes later, Reid found Strauss staring down at him. Her blue eyes sparkled, pleased that she was able to elicit such a response in him. He reached up and tangled his hand into her silky blond hair, rubbing it between his fingers.

"That was, by far, the best hand job that I have ever received," Reid told her. He was delighted when she blushed furiously.

"I'm glad that I could be of service." Strauss reached over him to grab his t-shirt from the floor to clean them both up, which caused him to squirm. She threw it against the wall when she was done. "Just wait until you see what else I can do."

Reid groaned when she stroked his flaccid penis, already feeling a tiny hint of arousal, though he knew it would be awhile before he was able to go again. He grabbed her hand and held it. "You're going to have to give me a little bit of a recovery period before we start this up again."

She smiled as he tugged her to his chest. "What should we do until then?"

"Tell me about the Bahamas. Why did you select that place to go?"

"Actually," Strauss chuckled, "it was Miss Garcia's idea. She stumbled upon me in the hallway in the middle of a heated discussion with my Dani. She wanted to go to Europe, but Megan plans that for her third year of college and wanted to go somewhere she wouldn't have the opportunity to otherwise. I wanted to go to Hawaii, myself. I just love Maui. Anyway, Penelope overheard me arguing and suggested that we go to the Bahamas. Dani latched onto the idea right away, probably because it didn't come from me."

Reid grabbed the blanket that had fallen to the floor and covered them both. He gently stroked the skin on her back and sides as she settled against him. Their legs were forced to intertwine as the bed was so small.

Strauss hummed when one of his hands curled around her breast. "What can you tell me about the Bahamas?"

"Well, I've never been there myself," he admitted. "I can tell you that it is made up of over 700 islands, cays, and islets and that the capital, Nassau, is also its largest city. With a population of almost 250,000 people, it consists of almost 70% of the country's population. The Bahamas became a British colony in 1718..." His voice trailed off when he realized that her breathing was trailing off.

"Why did you stop?" Strauss asked, raising her head to look him in the eye.

Reid shrugged. "I thought I was boring you to sleep. I mean, if you need to go to sleep, I can keep talking. I know I tend to ramble on."

Strauss crossed her arms over his chest and lay her chin on them. "You weren't boring me and I wasn't going to sleep. I like to hear you talk. It soothes me."

"You don't have to be nice. I'm used to no one wanting to listen to my facts." Reid found that he was unable to quite meet her eyes.

"Now, you listen to me, Spencer Reid." The harsh tone in her voice made him freeze. "I am not exactly known for being nice and I don't coddle anyone besides my children. I am not like everyone else. I mean, can you see any of them in bed with you?" Strauss narrowed her eyes. "The answer to that better be no."

Reid grimaced when she threatened to pinch his nipple. "No, I can't imagine any of them in bed with me."

Her eyes glittered, mischievously. "Does that mean that you could see us in bed together before tonight?"

"I, um, well." Reid took a deep breath. "Yes, I pictured us in bed before tonight. Only you. Well, there was this one dream about JJ's ex, but I don't really want to get into it."

"I have to say, Spencer, that I'm both surprised and immensely flatter by that," Strauss told him, sincerely.

Reid cupped her cheek. "You shouldn't be surprised. You are an incredibly sensual and beautiful woman. You are the fantasy of quite a few agents around the office."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure. Everyone fantasizes about the Ice Bitch."

"You better believe it." He licked his lips. "They are all convinced that you are an absolute firecracker in bed. I have to say, they're not wrong."

"You keep that up and I may never let you go," she told him.

Reid held her gaze for a long time. "Perhaps, that's my plan."

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Standing above her, Morgan began to laugh.

Garcia's face fell. She looked away from him as her bottom lip quivered. She was unable to stop the tears falling from her eyes as his laughter stabbed at her heart.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, when he realized her reaction. Morgan grabbed her chin to turn her towards him.

"Why are you laughing?" she shot back. Anger was now mixed with heartache. "I know that I'm not the type of girl that you normally go for, but I didn't think you would find it so laughable."

Garcia jerked her chin out of his hand. She stood and stomped to the other side of the cabin.

"You really can be a jerk sometimes, Agent Morgan."

Morgan pinched his nose. "And you can be so incredibly confusing, Agent Garcia!"

Garcia's jaw dropped. "Just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Penelope." He paused, tampering down on his rising emotions. "Let's go back. I wasn't laughing at you because I think it's 'laughable' that to want to be with someone like you. I'm laughing because you didn't need to go to all of this trouble."

"What?"

Morgan walked across the room. He cupped her face, running his thumbs over her silky skin. "I have been completely enamored by you for years."

She struggled to breathe. "But-but... You never said anything!"

"You were with Kevin!" he countered.

"Not the entire time that I've known you!" Garcia shouted, pulling away from him. "I dropped plenty of hints before then that I liked you. You only ever treated me like a friend. Sure, we flirted, but you never looked at him like you've looked at the others."

Morgan frowned. "What others?"

She threw her hands in the air. "The others! The other girls! The ones that we've run into at bars and clubs and walking down the street! The ones that you look at with that hungry look in your eyes like you just want to gobble them up. You have never once looked at me like that."

"What about you?" he tossed back at her. "You used to flirt with Hotch all the time. You and Rossi have been known to get playful at times. Kitten."

"Hotch? Rossi?" Garcia repeated, incredulously. "I'll do anything to make Hotch smile. We all would! It's no different than Reid's magic tricks or JJ's play dates or Rossi's late night scotch drinks. And Rossi? Rossi flirts with his office door!"

Morgan felt his blood boil and forced himself to calm down. There was no one on Earth that could frustrate him like the woman standing before him. He absolutely adored her fiery passion, but not when she used it against him. He wanted her. Oh, how he wanted her, but he never quite felt that he deserved her. She was pureness and light and all good things. He never wanted to tarnish her brightness with his baggage. Yet, here he was, hurting her every bit as much as he always feared.

Rubbing his head, Morgan said, quietly, "I'm sorry."

Garcia froze. "You're… sorry?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "This isn't exactly how I imagined this conversation going. Can we start again?"

"Sure," Garcia replied, but her voice sounded anything but.

Morgan ducked his head, briefly, "I have had… feelings for you for a long time." He was struggling to admit his feelings, but he was determined to get through it. It was possibly his only chance. "Now, we can argue over why I didn't tell you, but that's beside the point. I have them and they're real. Very real. I have spent countless hours the last few months trying to figure out if you have feelings for me, too."

"I-"

Morgan placed his finger on her lips to hush her up. "I know I have a playboy reputation and, to a certain extent, it's not undeserved. But the women that I… date… have always been straight-forward. I wanted them and they wanted me and there was no question about it. But you, you little Miss Thang, every time we start to get close, every time I was ready to make my move, to turn and kiss you while we were cuddling on the couch, you suddenly remembered something that you forgot to do or find some other reason to push me away."

Garcia opened and closed her mouth a few times, thinking over what he had said and comparing it to her actions. When she spoke, it was quiet. "I wasn't trying to push you away. I was so afraid that I was reading into things that weren't really there that I kept freaking myself out. I was so terrified of losing our friendship because it means everything to me, you have to know that, Derek."

"I do," he assured her. "So, let me get this straight: I have feelings for you and you have feelings for me." Garcia nodded. "Well, then, Penelope, just what are we going to do about that?"


	11. Good Night, Sweetheart

Still, one thing bothered her. She turned back to Rossi. "What are you getting out of this?"

"What am I getting out of this?" he repeated, blinking. He took a moment to mull over her question, not wanting to appear flippant. "What am I getting out of this." Rossi sat down on the bed, turning somber. "I get to, in some capacity, be a father again."

"Again?" Prentiss looked at him in shock.

Rossi nodded. "I was a father once. For one amazing hour, I held this beautiful, perfect little boy in my arms. He passed away in his mother's embrace; a congenital heart defect, they said. I lost my wife not long after that. We just… couldn't look at each other after we lost him."

Prentiss sat down next to him, touching his arm when he grew quiet. "What was his name?"

"James," he whispered, almost reverently. "James David Rossi. In my head, I called him 'J.D.' James seemed like such a grown-up name for such a tiny person. I think about him every day. I wonder what kind of man he would have grown into. Would he have followed into my footsteps? Would he have found his own path? Would he have children of his own by now?"

"I'm sorry," Prentiss told him.

Rossi shot her a small smile. "I know. Thank you."

She removed her hand from his arm and placed it in her lap. "You can't replace one child with another. It doesn't work that way and it's not fair to either of them."

"I know that," Rossi assured her. "I don't just grieve for James. I grieve for the father that I never got to become. For all of my many faults, and believe me, I know I have them in spades, I think I would have been a good father. I pushed away the idea for many years. Somewhere, I felt that I didn't deserve to be one, but now, looking at my life, it's the one thing that I feel is missing."

"Dave…"

Rossi shook his head. "I know you think that you don't love me and I'm not going to argue with you about it anymore. The fact of the matter is that I love you enough to let you go. I love you enough to understand that becoming the father of your child doesn't mean that I get you, too. It's enough that I get to hold your hand while we watch our child come into the world. It's enough to share in the joy of his first steps, her first words. It's enough to stand with you as she walks into school for the first time, goes on his first date, graduates from high school." Rossi put his head down. When he looked back at Prentiss, his eyes revealed all his vulnerability. "You asked me what I'm getting out of this and all I can tell you is that I'd be getting everything."

Prentiss wiped away the tears that had developed in her eyes. "That… I never knew that you wanted all of that for yourself."

"Not many people do," he shrugged. "The thing is, Em, that I don't want you to agree to this because of my sob story. If you're not comfortable, I will step back. After all, it's not like I don't have a relatively full life. I want you to agree if and only if, you feel that it's the right decision for you and this baby."

"I-"

He interrupted her again. "It's not anything that you need to decide now, Emily. You have until you need to fill out the birth certificate to figure it out." They both fell silent. "You should probably get some rest."

Prentiss looked around the room. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"The chair's not all that uncomfortable." He kissed her forehead as he stood. "Don't worry about me, Emily. I'll be fine."

"Don't be ridiculous," she scolded him in a voice that reminded him eerily of his mother. We can share the bed."

Rossi looked from the bed to her, an eyebrow raised. "You're nuts. There's no way that two of us are going to fit into that bed."

Prentiss stood. She removed her jeans and stepped out of them. Next, she slipped her sweater over her head, leaving her in only a t-shirt, bra, panties, and socks. She got under the blanket. "Of course, we will."

Rossi sucked in a long breath. He turned the lights to the cabin off before stripping down to his boxers. He could feel Prentiss' eyes on him the entire time and it made his heart beat fast. Rossi sent up a soundless prayer for control. "I hope you know what you're doing."

Settling her back against his front, Prentiss pulled his arms around her. It was a tight fit, but they were secure. "I sure hope I do, too."

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Hotch grinned. "Yes, ma'am!

Hotch dumped his jeans on the floor and put a knee on the bed.

"Wait!" JJ exclaimed. "Lights!"

"Right." He hopped to the light switch and back, causing JJ to giggle. He crawled into bed and pulled her close to him. Hotch wrapped his arms around her middle, laying his chin on her shoulder as he entwined their legs. He breathed in deeply, inhaling her honey scent, before closing his eyes. He found himself no closer to sleep after a few minutes, prompting him to whisper, "What are we doing, JJ?"

Giving off a little sigh of content, she replied, "I thought we were going to sleep."

Hotch suppressed a groan when JJ wiggled against him. "That's not what I meant and you know, Miss Can Avoid Anything Before Than Anyone That I Know."

"Do you think that you could give me a longer nickname?" JJ deadpanned.

"Sure, Miss Can Avoid Anything Before Than Anyone That I Know, But Looks So Hot and Adorable Doing It That I Am Willing To Forgive You For It."

"Hot and adorable?" she repeated. "That's an interesting combo."

Hotch shrugged. "You're an interesting woman... an interesting woman who is avoiding my question."

JJ flipped over so that she was facing, keeping her body in close contact with his so that she didn't fall off the bed. "What was your question?"

"What are we doing?" He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "We've been flirting all night."

"Be honest," she ordered. "We've been flirting for weeks, months. I don't know about you, but Henry's never really been a kid that needed to have play dates, especially not weekly. I've only been saying that so that I could see you."

Hotch smiled, shyly. "I'm the one that got Jack all excited to see Henry every weekend... just so that I could see you."

JJ placed her palm over his heart, feeling the steady beat. "This is crazy, isn't it? I mean, we've known each other for years and years and there's never been anything."

"I don't know that there hasn't been anything," he said, quickly. "I think we have always had a special relationship. You are the only person that has always been able to look at me and I know you know exactly what I'm thinking. You are the only one that knows when to push me and when to pull back."

"Rossi-"

Hotch shook his head, emphatically. "Rossi just knows to push. I'm the one that has to tell him to stop. You just know. You know me. For as much as I hide and keep people at a distance, you know me."

JJ ran her hand up his chest and back behind his neck. "And you know me. There are things that you know about me that no one else does. You're right. We have always had a special relationship, but there hasn't always been this-"

"Attraction?" he interrupted. "Trust me. There has always been an attraction on this side."

"I wasn't going to say attraction," JJ countered. "But for the record, there's definitely always been an attraction on this side, too." She made her hand and squeezed his butt. "Especially here."

Jumping at her touching, Hotch pulled her even closer. "Well, that's good to know!"

JJ took the opportunity to kiss his neck. "What I mean is that we've always been friends, good friends. There has never been any indication from either of us that we should turn this into something new."

"Maybe that's because the time wasn't right for us before. There was Haley and then Jack and then you had Will and then there was Henry." Hotch took a deep breath. "I like to think that we're pretty upstanding people so maybe these feelings remained platonic until we were both free to explore them."

"Does that mean that you do want to explore them?" Her voice was timid.

Hotch kissed the top of her nose. "There is nothing in this world that I want more."

JJ responded by kissing him squarely on the lips. She ran her tongue over his lips and he opened immediately to her. JJ swept her tongue inside, leaving no crevice untouched. Arousal hummed through both their bodies by the time she eased out of the kiss.

"Wow," she whispered.

He replied with an indistinct noise, panting slightly. He nuzzled her ear with his nose. "You have no idea how much I want to completely ravish you right now."

Grinding against, JJ muttered, "I have some idea."

"I want to do this right, though. I want to take you out to dinner and steal a kiss good night. I want to get to know JJ the woman over stolen coffee breaks. I want to introduce you to my friends as my girlfriend and someday, when we're sure of where this is going, I want to introduce you to Jack as the love of my life."

JJ smiled as he wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes. It was a wonderful speech and one that she knew she would treasure for the rest of her life. "So, no sex then?"

Hotch chortled. "Not tonight."

"Good night, Hotch," she said, snuggling close to him.

"Good night."


	12. The End of the Night

"Well, then, Penelope, just what are we going to do about that?"

Garcia took a deep breath, stalling for time. This was it; she could feel it in her bones. This was the moment that everything in her life changed if only she had the courage to reach out and grab it. Garcia began to make a pro and con list in her. Pro: No one ever made her feel as beautiful as he did. Con: Morgan could make any women feel beautiful. Pro: He was her best friend and don't they make the best relationships? Con: He was her best friend and if they didn't work out, she would lose him. Pro-

"Penelope, stop."

Garcia looked up at him, confused. "Stop what?"

Morgan grinned. "You think I don't know what you're doing up in that pretty head of yours? You think I don't know that you're debating the pros and cons of starting a relationship with me?" He cupped her cheek when she blushed. "Don't think about it. Don't debate it. Just close your eyes and tell me the first thing that comes into your mind. What do you think we should do? Should we explore these feelings or should we push them away? Should we try for something more?"

"Well, what do you think, huh?" she countered. "Why am I the one being put on the spot?"

"Uh, uh, uh," Morgan admonished. "I refuse to influence you on this and I know that's what will happen. So, tell me, Baby Girl, what we should do next."

Garcia licked her lips. "I think... that... you... should... kiss me."

He ducked his head to cover his smile. "If you're sure that's what you?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay." Morgan moved the hand that cupped her check to her hair. He rolled the strands of blond between his fingertips, reveling in the feel of the silk. He took the fingers of his other hand and gently brushed them over her forehead, down her cheek, and across her lips. Morgan lowered his own lips towards her, only to veer off at the last second to place a peck just below her ear.

"Oooh," Garcia whispered, slowly. The spicy scent of his aftershave was making her head spin. Not content to simply stand there, she ran her hands up under his shirt, feeling each of the muscles of his abdomen.

Shivering from her touch, Morgan moved his lips down her jaw, almost, but not quite touching her skin. He kiss one corner of her mouth, then nipped her upper lip. He pulled back slightly to muttered, "Are you ready for this?"

Garcia nodded, but she was ill prepared for the fire that burned throughout her body the moment his lips touched. She opened immediately to him, drowning in sensations. If she thought she was burning before, she was completely caught off guard by the heat that consumed her as their lips intertwined. He nibbled and suckled and lapped at her mouth.

"Wow," Garcia murmured when he finally released her. She put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. "That was... wow."

"That was the most amazing kiss that I've ever had," Morgan admitted, feeling a bit light-headed himself. "So, does that mean that we can keep doing that?"

She nodded. "Oh, honey. We're going to be doing a lot of that going forward."

Morgan chuckled, wagging his eyebrows. "Just say the word, Mama."

"Well, I'll take another kiss, but I'd rather it be laying down, in bed, naked."

"I-" He paused. "You don't want to take this slow? Get to know each other before hopping into bed?"

Garcia laughed. "What could we possibly learn about on a date that we don't already know about each other?"

Morgan thought this over for a moment. "You have a point. But I'd still like to do some of the traditional dating things."

"Oh yeah?" Garcia began to raise his shirt up. "Such as?"

"I'd like to take you out to dinner and a movie and pay. I'd like to take you away to a nice bed breakfast that cost half my paycheck. I'd like to spend time necking in the back of my car. And I'd like to take you home to my mother and introduce you as the girl I'm going to marry."

Garcia pulled his shirt all the way off. Her eyes widened as she took in his last statement. "You want to marry me?"

He nodded. "I want to marry you, have babies with you, retire with you. I want to live my life with you." He hesitated when she didn't say anything. "Unless you think I'm moving too fast."

"That's the crazy thing," she told him. "I don't think it's too fast at all. I can't wait to do all of those things with you. But first, I want you naked in that bed."

"Yes, ma'am!" Morgan saluted before they tumbled into bed together. Their laughter rapidly turned into pleasure-filled moans as their bodies became one.

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"Perhaps, that's my plan."

Strauss froze. Her entire body stilled and the air was filled with a heavy tension that wasn't there before. "Don't say that."

Reid frowned, unsure of what he had done to make her so uncomfortable. "Why not?"

"This is fine," she replied. "You and I have sex, teasing each other is fine. I need it to stay light. I can't do serious, especially..."

"Especially what?"

Strauss took a shaky breath. "Especially since I know that you're not serious."

Reid ran his thumb over her cheek. "Why do you think I'm not serious?"

"Come on," Strauss sighed, trying to pull away from him. Reid refused to let her go. "I'm not anyone's idea of a good... date, girlfriend, whatever. I'm cold and distant. I put work and my kids in front of everything else. I push people away. I-"

"Stop!" Reid ordered. "I won't let you put yourself down anymore. You're not cold; you're cautious and apparently with good reason. You keep yourself distant, but that's only because you're afraid of getting hurt. Putting your kids first shows me just how wonderful of a mother you really are and as far as work goes, well, we're kind of in the same boat. You can push all you want, Miss Erin, but I'm not walking away from you."

She squinted her eyes. "Why?"

Reid grinned at her. "Because I have seen the woman beneath the image that you portray to the rest of the world. You know what I see? I see a woman that is brave and strong, but afraid. I see a woman that has been knocked around in life, but gets back up to continue fighting another day. I see a woman that loves her children more than anything and cares about the people in her life more than she's willing to let on. I-" He stumbled slightly. "I see a woman who looks at me, not as a little brother or someone who needs to be looked after. No, she looks at me and only sees a man, faults and all."

"You really see all of that?" Strauss asked. There was a detectable quiver in her voice.

"I do." He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "And I would love the opportunity to see more, if you'll let me. I know there are rules and regulations-"

She shook her head. "You don't have to worry about that. I know enough people that owe me favors. Besides, Aaron is one of the most honorable agents I know. He would never let me influence him on anything having to do with you."

Reid hugged her close to his chest. "He definitely would not."

"But that does bring up another point. Are you prepared for the reactions of your teammates if we decide to actually, you know?"

"You can say it, Erin," Reid encouraged her. "I'm not pussy-footing around this. I want to have a relationship with you. As far as the team goes, I don't really care what they think, but to be honest, I think you might be surprised by their reactions. Will they be shocked? Sure, at first. I mean, it's not like I've gone around telling everyone how sensual of a woman that I think you are. And let me guarantee you that I think you are a very sensual woman."

She barked at a short huff. "I actually believe it when you say it. At least, I believe that you see me that way."

Reid licked his lips. "And you? How do you see me?"

"I think you are one of the most beautiful creatures that I have ever laid eyes one."

"I-" he stopped, blushing hard. "Thank you."

Strauss placed a tiny kiss on his chest. "I do... want to explore this relationship with you. Five hours ago, I couldn't imagine it, but I feel a connection, a kinship with you."

Reid nodded, whispering, "I feel it, too. If you want to keep this quiet for now, I'll understand."

"Keep it quiet? No," she insisted. "But I do think it would be a good idea if we held off introducing you to my children for awhile. Both to give them time to adjust to the idea and to give us time to settle into this relationship, see where it's going."

"I think that's an excellent idea," he assured her. "If you want to put clothes on all night and cuddle, I'm fine with that, too. I don't want to push you into anything. I want to give this the best chance possible."

Strauss seemed to gain some of confidence back as she leaned over him. "I want to give this the best chance possible, too, but I don't want to put my clothes back on and I don't want to cuddle." She squirmed on him. "And I'm pretty confident that you don't want to do that either."

Reid's penis hardened almost painfully. Not even as a teen had he had someone fire him up so fast. He rolled her under him and entered her in one move. "Definitely not!"

"Oh, Spencer!" Strauss crowed and quickly lost herself in lust.


	13. There's Got To Be a Morning After

It was a scraping noise that woke Rossi up early the next morning. It took him a moment to work out where he was and whom he was with. Cabin. Snow. Emily. Emily! Rossi took a deep breath, letting her scent invade his senses. She was still with him. Not only that, but her front was pressed tightly against his, her leg thrown over his thigh. Rossi had just buried his nose into her neck when a knock on the door startled him.

"Shit!" he whispered, disentangling him from Prentiss as quietly as possible. He threw on his coat and opened the door to find his caretaker standing on the other side, a shovel in his hand. "Yes?"

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Rossi," he said, though the twinkle in his eye said otherwise, "but I thought you'd like to know that the path to the house has been cleared. "Lena is up at the cabin cooking up breakfast."

Rossi nodded. "Thanks, George."

George chuckled as he looked down at Rossi's bare feet. "Would you like me to wake the others?"

"I have the walkie-talkies. We'll see you in a bit, George." Rossi closed the door as George tipped his hat at him. He turned to see Prentiss sitting up. "Uh, good morning."

"Morning," she replied, her voice husky with sleep. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he replied, removing his coat. Rossi grabbed his pants from the floor. "That was the caretaker letting me know that we can head up to the cabin." He paused waiting for Prentiss to say something, but she just rubbed her eyes. "How did you sleep?"

Prentiss blushed. "Good. Real good. That's, uh, the best night of sleep that I've gotten in a long time."

Rossi smirked. "I'm glad to hear it."

"Dave," Prentiss sighed, rolling her eyes.

"I'm just glad that you got a good night sleep," he replied, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "And if it just happens that you get your best nights of sleep is when you're in my arms, who am I to argue?"

Prentiss rubbed her head, but let the comment slide. "Can you hand me my jeans?"

He snatched them up. "There's no need to hurry. Lena will keep breakfast warm."

"I'm a pregnant woman, Rossi, and it's morning. There's no bathroom in here; gross, by the way. There is definitely a reason for me to hurry," Prentiss explained.

"Right." Rossi grabbed the rest of their clothes. He chest swelled up with hope at their easy banter. "I'll wake everyone up."

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"Hotch. Come in, Hotch."

Hotch groaned as Rossi's voice permeated a wonderful dream that he was having involving himself, JJ, and chocolate sauce. He opened one eye and looked down to find JJ sprawled across his body. "Jayje. JJ."

JJ hit his chest. "What?"

"Ow!" Hotch exclaimed. "I need to get the walkie-talkie. Dave's calling."

"Fine," she growled. She stood, talking the blanket with her, and stalked over to the counter where the walkie-talkie sat. JJ grabbed it from the counter and returned to the bed, handing it to Hotch before resuming her exact position on top of him.

Hotch grinned, wrapping one arm around her. "Yeah, Dave?"

"Just wanted to let you know that the path has been cleared and we can head on up at any time. Breakfast will be waiting for us," Rossi told him.

"Thanks," Hotch replied before placing the walkie-talkie on the ground. "Did you hear that?" JJ nodded against his chest. "Do you want to head up?"

She shook her head. "Wanna go back to sleep."

He stroked her hair. "Are you sure? I know Dave's people and they always make amazing food."

JJ raised her head, putting her chin on her hands. "Well, maybe if someone let me work up an appetite last night, I'd be more inclined to hurry to eat now."

"If you really want to work up an appetite right now, I can make that happen," Hotch offered.

"I really do," she replied, kissing his heart, "but at the same time, I know you're right. We need to take this slow."

"So, no regrets? No doubts?"

JJ shook her head. "About this? About you? Not one. I do have one suggestion, though, that I'm not sure you're going to like."

Hotch frowned. "What's that?"

"I don't think we should hid this. I did that with Will; you did it with Beth. I don't think it worked out well for either of those relationships. I know that it's going to take a lot of favors to keep working together, but-"

"We should do it," he agreed. "I'll talk to Strauss today. Maybe you can report directly to her or to Rossi."

JJ grinned widely. "It'll be rough, but I think you're worth it; you know, putting up with either of them as a boss."

Hotch dragged her up his body, kissing her soundly. "I'll make it worth your while."

"I'm sure you will." She laid a gently kiss on his swollen lips. "Come on. Let's go get some food."

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"Good morning, princess," Morgan whispered in Garcia's ear.

"I'll show you a good morning, hot stuff," she giggled, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist.

Morgan rocked against her, his penis tucked between her legs. He tugged on her earlobe with his teeth. "I most certainly hope so."

She gasped as his hands drifted further south, cupping her. "Ooh, I think you need to wake me up like this every morning."

"Whatever my goddess wants," he moaned. He had just inserted a finger inside of her when they heard Rossi's voice come through the walkie-talkie. "That's a mood killer."

"Oh, I don't know," Garcia teased. "He does have a sexy voice."

Morgan tickled her as he reached over her to grab the device from the floor. "What's up, Rossi?"

"Good morning to you," he replied. "Well, no need to ask what you kids were up to. I can hear it in Penelope's laughter."

"Ssh!" Morgan hushed her. "So, what can we do for you?"

Rossi chuckled. "The paths are clear to the cabin and breakfast is being cooked. You're clear to make your way up, you know, whenever you're done there."

Morgan rolled his eyes as he ended the conversation. He tossed the walkie-talkie back onto the floor. "So, do you want to head back to the cabin for breakfast?"

"Ooh, I am definitely hungry, but not for breakfast." Garcia pushed him down on the bed and straddled his waist. She ran her hands over his taut abs. She had spent so many nights dreaming of being able to freely touch him and she was having a hard time believing that she doing it now. "So, last night..."

"Was amazing," he finished, cupping her heavy breasts.

She pushed further into his hands. "Yes, it was, but I was referring more to what happened before all the sexy, fun stuff."

Stroking her nipples, he asked, "Are you referring to my plans to marry you?"

"Yeah," Garcia answered, quietly, blushing fiercely.

"I was serious about that," Morgan told her, his tone taking on a solemn tone. "But I'm not asking you while we're naked in a hunting cabin."

"I wasn't-"

"I know." He smiled as he tapped her nose. "Yes, I absolutely am going to propose to you, but it is going to sweet and sappy, so saccharine that you may end up in a diabetic coma."

Garcia smiled, her worries laid to rest. "I love you, Derek Morgan."

"And I love you, Penelope Garcia."

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM CM

"What are you doing?" Strauss muttered, her eyes closed. They had been awoken a few minutes earlier by Rossi, but she was doing her best to remain asleep.

"I'm watching you sleep," Reid replied, honestly. He used his index finger to gently outline her face.

She pushed his hand away and opened her eyes. "That tickles."

Reid grinned, wickedly. "Sorry."

"You don't sound a bit contrite, Agent Reid."

"That could be because I'm not," he teased. "You have no idea how beautiful you are when you sleep, do you?"

Strauss flushed. "You almost make me believe that."

Reid caressed her cheek. "I am going to continuously tell you how magnificently attractive you are until you finally believe it."

"You're... a lot different then I expected you to be," Strauss commented. "You are a lot more confident behind closed doors."

"We all play our parts, Erin," he told, wistfully. "I've always been the awkward little brother on the team so that's what tends to come out when I'm with the others. You, your reactions to me, bring out my confidence. If I seem more self-assured, it's because you make me feel that way."

Strauss grabbed the back of his head. "This is insane, you know. You and me. I'm... significantly older than you."

He shrugged. "You're older. I'm not sure that I would qualify it as 'significantly'. Besides, there have been rumors about JJ and Hotch for years and their age difference isn't any more than ours."

"True," she conceded. "Don't you want a family?"

"With you, I'd have a family," Reid told her. "I would have you and your children and you would have me. If you are concerned about me wanting to further my genetic material by having offspring of my own, allow me to allay your fears: it's never been important to me."

Strauss bit her bottom lip, unconvinced. "But-"

Reid silenced her with a kiss. "Erin, this is all new. Neither of us knows where it's going to end up. I know where I would like it to, but the world doesn't work that way, as we both know. But I'm telling you, I am walking into this relationship with my eyes wide open. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now, let's go grab some breakfast and five everyone our news."


	14. Breakfast Serial

Breakfast was almost a supernaturally quiet affair with three out of four of the couples at the table. Rossi couldn't remember the last time that he ate so quietly. Even when it was just him at the house, there was usually a television on for background noise and a dog begging out his feet. This breakfast, however, had just the occasional clanging of a fork and knife on a plate.

He wasn't exactly sure why there was tension between everyone else in the room. Between him and Prentiss, sure; she had yet to answer his question on whether or not he could become the baby's father. Even the small kernel of hope that he could filled his heart with a joy that he hadn't felt in over thirty years. But as to why Hotch, JJ, Garcia, and Morgan weren't speaking or really looking at each other, he couldn't be sure. Though, the hickey on Garcia's neck and her earlier giggles at least left a clue there.

Rossi had just opened his mouth to speak when the back door flung open and Reid and Strauss came stumbling through. Reid was laughing while she had her glove-covered hand to her mouth. Whether her face was red from the cold or embarrassment, Rossi could be sure. There was no mistaking the possessiveness of Reid's arm around her shoulder, however.

"About time you two got here," Rossi commented, a twinkle in his eye as he rose to grab them plates.

Reid watched him with narrow eyes, which did not go unnoticed by Rossi. "Just what is that supposed to mean?"

Rossi could barely contain his mirth. He could see all the signs in the kid: he had fallen for Erin Strauss and he had fallen hard. "It means that the rest of us are nearly through breakfast and you are just showing up. Here, Lena left everything warming. Come sit down."

"What is going on with those two?" Morgan whispered to Garcia, watching as Reid scooped eggs onto Strauss' plate. "You don't think…"

"Oh, it couldn't be," Garcia protested. "Could it? No. But…"

JJ exchanged amused glances with both Prentiss and Hotch. "I'm pretty sure that what we're all thinking happened, actually happened.

Prentiss leaned in close. "So, just to clarify, what do we think happened?"

"We think that they hooked up," JJ answered slowly, stupefied by Prentiss' lack of understanding.

"Oh, right." Tears welled up in Prentiss' eyes. "I can't help it. This baby is making me stupid."

"Baby?!" JJ, Hotch, Morgan, and Garcia shouted at her.

Rossi gasped as Reid turned to Strauss. "Did she say 'baby'?"

Strauss laughed, the only one seemingly unaffected by the announcement. "She said 'baby'."

"I, uh, I," Prentiss looked desperately at Rossi, who was frozen, unsure of how to help her. She took a deep breath. Her mind and her heart had finally made her choice. "Dave and I have an announcement. We're having a baby."

Rossi broke out into a huge grin, his heart singing. Forcing himself to hide his surprise at her announcement, he stood behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "And we couldn't be happier."

JJ was the first to break her silence, leaning over to hug Prentiss. "Congratulations! You're going to be a great mother."

"Congratulations," Hotch offered to Rossi, shaking his hand. "I can't wait to see you after a night of feedings."

"Funny," Rossi muttered before accepting good wishes from the others. He found himself face to face with Strauss last. "I just want you to know that I'm prepared to fight if this is an issue."

Strauss raised up her hand. "Relax, David. You'll get no push back from me." She glanced back at Reid, blushing slightly. "In fact, I'll be doing that battle myself."

Rossi raised his eyebrows as Strauss held her hand out to Reid. "Something you want to tell us, Erin?"

"Yes," Reid answered for her. He looked around the table where everyone was watching the trio. "We did not 'hook up'. We made love."

"All night long," she added with a lick of her lips.

Prentiss snorted while Morgan and Garcia nearly choked on their drinks. JJ, however, glanced solemnly between Reid and Strauss. "So, is this for real?"

Reid squeezed Strauss' hand, sensing her nervousness. "It's for real."

"Then, congratulations." She stood once more and offered them both a hug. "I'm happy for you both."

"Me, too," Hotch agreed, "but since you're going to be in the trenches fighting for you and Reid and Dave and Emily, do you think you can fight for JJ and me, too?"

Morgan hit Garcia's shoulders. "I told you that Hotch wasn't seeing Beth."

Garcia punched him back. "Don't hit me!" She turned to Strauss. "Uh, ma'am? If you wouldn't mind putting in a word for us as well?"

"Oh, the director's just going to love this," Strauss mumbled.

"Just tell him that if he has any issues with it that the entire team will walk," Rossi told her, waving it off. "It wouldn't look too good if the entire team of elite profilers and their boss walked off the job, would it?"

Strauss grinned, slyly. "It most certainly would not."

Rossi nodded. "Now that we have that settled, everyone sit and eat."

Silence descended over the room once again as everyone returned their focus to eating. Glances, some loving and some heated, were exchanged between the couples. The tension spiraled throughout the room. Reid stood suddenly, breaking the quiet.

"I'm not really hungry. I think I need a nap. Erin?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her from her chair before she had a chance to respond. "See ya later, everyone."

"You know, a nap sounds like a really good idea," Morgan announced when Reid and Strauss left the room. He offered his arm to Garcia. "Penelope?"

Garcia's eyes lit up as she stood. "A wonderful idea, good sir."

Rossi rose as the others left. "I think we have a few things to discuss, Emily."

"I think you're right," she agreed. She danced her fingers up his chest, "but I think the baby would like a 'nap' first."

"Anything for you, mother of my child."

As he led her away, Hotch and JJ could hear her protesting, "If you want to continue to be the father of my child, you will never call me that again."

Hotch shrugged at JJ. "I would suggest that we also take a nap, but I don't think that would be in our best interest."

"No, you're right," JJ acquiesced. "However, I believe that the fire is going in the fireplace in the living room. Seems like the perfect place to do some cuddling."

"I love the way your mind thinks," he told her as let her drag him away.


	15. All Good Things Must Come To An End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: We have come to the end of the story. Thank you to everyone that has followed this story to its completion.

Epilogue:

“It sure took you long enough to get here.”

Garcia shot Rossi an annoyed glare. “I'm not the one that had to have my daughter's christening party in the middle of the friggin' woods, Rossi!”

Rossi hugged her, unperturbed. “Baptism party, Penelope.”

“Like it matters,” she huffed. “Now, where is my niece?”

“Right here,” Prentiss assured her. She placed the baby girl in Garcia's arms before greeting both her and Morgan. “She couldn't wait to see her auntie Penny.”

Garcia cooed over the baby. “Oh, I never get tired of this little face. Hello, Isabella. It's your fairy godmother, Aunt Penny.”

Morgan leaned over Garcia's shoulder, staring down at the dark haired infant. “She doesn't look much like you at all, Rossi. Guess that makes her pretty lucky.”

“Ha-ha,” Rossi snorted, exchanging a cautious look with Prentiss. He took Isabella back and quickly changed the subject away from his daughter. “So, when are you two going to make one of these?”

“Relax, Dave,” Morgan protested, “we just got engaged.”

Garcia froze, slapping her forehead. “You weren't supposed to tell anyone, sweet cheeks!”

JJ entered the kitchen with Jack. “Tell what?”

“We're engaged!” Garcia squealed, holding up her hand to show off her ring.

“Congratulations!” JJ hugged her friend tightly.

Garcia pulled back and eyed her. “You're not surprised.”

JJ opened her mouth to protest, but a snort slipped out instead. She blushed furiously. “Yeah, okay, I may have helped Derek pick out the ring.”

“Oh!” Garcia squealed, hugging JJ once again. “You're the absolute best! I love the ring! I knew my stallion, for all of his amazing qualities, could not have picked out a ring this good!”

“Hey!” Morgan shouted affronted. 

Garcia shook her as she walked over to him. She placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “You know that I still love.”

He pulled her into his arms. “I love you, too.”

“Ugh,” JJ and Rossi said at the same time before smirking at one another.

“Speaking of engagements, Jayje,” Garcia cooed, her eyes lighting up, “when are you and the bossman getting hitch?”

JJ opened her mouth to respond, but was stopped by Hotch entering the room with Henry in his arms. “As soon as she tells me to.”

Rossi clapped his shoulders, chuckling. “Smart man.” He glanced down at the infant in his arms and then at Prentiss. He smiled at her. “It is, after all, precisely what I did.”

Jack, who had been observing the adults with a confused look on his face, tugged on JJ's arm. “Are we allowed to tell them that we're all moving in together?”

“I think you let the cat out of bag on that one, son,” Hotch told him, rolling his eyes at Rossi and Morgan's snickers.

“We're getting a cat?” Jack exclaimed.

“Kitty!” Henry added, gleefully.

Morgan shook his head. “I don't think you're getting a cat, boys, but maybe, if you're really good, you can get a baby brother.”

“Morgan!” JJ bellowed. Her glared turned from Morgan to Hotch when he looked at her hopefully. “We can talk about babies when you start cutting back hours.”

“JJ, are you having a baby?” Reid questioned, leading Strauss into the kitchen. Despite being nearly inseparable from him over the last few months, she was still reserved when the entire BAU got together outside.

JJ groaned. “No! And don't be putting more ideas in these kids' heads.”

Reid glimpsed at Strauss, who nodded. “Well, I guess that means our little one is going to have to just settle for Isabella as a playmate.”

“Are you-” JJ took blinked before starting again. “Are you having a baby?”

“Yes, we are,” Strauss said, quietly. She waited for the explosion.

JJ stepped towards the two, pulling them both into a hug. “Congratulations! I can't wait to meet the new little one!”

Prentiss stepped in JJ's place, timidly hugging Strauss. “Congrats. How did your kids take the news?”

“They're so excited,” Strauss admitted. She was tickled that they were receiving some warm felicitations. “They absolutely adore Spencer and can't wait for him to move in.”

“So, does this mean that you're going to be getting married soon?” Garcia asked, her eyes sparkling with mirth. In her head, she was picturing dragging Strauss around to wedding shops for dresses.

Reid grabbed Strauss' hand and kissed it. “Actually, we already are. We stopped by the justice of the peace last weekend.”

JJ slapped his arm. “And you didn't tell us?”

“We didn't want to make a big deal out of it. The kids were there. That's all we wanted,” Reid explained. He smiled when Strauss squeezed his hand. His eyes were drawn to Garcia's hand. “Well, it looks like congratulations are due to you and Morgan as well.”

“Yes!” Garcia squealed, clapping her hands. “And JJ and Hotch are moving in together. It looks like everyone is moving on to good things in their lives.”

Rossi wrapped his arm around Garcia's shoulders. “And just think, Tiny Tim, none of this would have happened if you hadn't set up the Murder Mystery weekend for us.” He dipped his head. “We owe you a lot.”

She put arm around his waist. “I'm glad to hear you say that, David Rossi, because I have a proposition for you about a science fiction character cruise.”

THE END


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